Went to see the new CArousel and sorry to say it is not very good.
Singing is best bit - all v good - not a dud there (anyone remember the NT version - the one who sang You'll Never Walk Alone couldnt sing it was awful).
Acting - grrrr just passable.
Accents - all over the place. Ms Garrett went from Yorkshire to Ireland via Wales.
Sets not great and they are using that effect they used for The Woman in White - ok but it also broke down so there were the cast running round going up and down for the carousel and itwasnt there !!

Sorry to predict early closing notices for this one.

What's the orchestra like?

ok so the carouselbroke when i saw it and I actually preferred it without the projection!
Lesley has been sick apparently and wasn't on last night but was back for the matinee today which i saw and wasn't overly impressed with,
You simply CANNOT say all the acting was rubbish - I understand there are a few of the cast need work but Al Silber and Jeremiah James certainly donnot, I was astounded with both their acting ability.
I must stress although it is not an excuse but this is the middle week of their tour- people are bound to be feeling the strain (not an excuse for a crap performance) but I always have empathy for actors.

enough said - MY OPINION

if you really thought the fabulous RNT production was awful I'm finding your opnions hard to take seriously...

Well said curzon!

I went to see Carousel at Milton Keynes for the Sat matinee and I thought the show was very good and the singing was lovely. There was many a tissue brought out at the end and during the singing of "If I loved you". I would have liked to hear Lesley Garrett and the cast do an encore of "You'll never walk alone" at the end ... as a finale. It would have been better if she had been able to give the audience a treat, as I must admit she was the reason I went to see the production. The male lead who playedd "Billy" was excellent and sounded to me like the original Gordon Macrae from the film, which I saw a number of years back now!!

Sorry, but this is something that makes me mad, Carosel is not the Lesley Garrett show, she's playing a supporting character, if anyone should lead a finale it should be either Al Silber or Jeramiah James as the are the LEADS! I am a Lesley Garrett fan and think it's wonderful that she's doing teh show but I do feel for Al and Jeramiah, it must be quite frustrating loosing top billing to a supporting because her name is bigger!

I agree with you, but unfortunately the person (and no offence to him/her at all) who said they only really went to see it because Lesley Garett was in it is a prime example of why Lesley Garrett was cast - she puts bums on seats. No, she isnt the main character, and no, isn't fair that she might be billed above Al Silber et al but it's the same as when The Drowsy Chaperone was made to be all about Elaine Paige - by no means the main character but she got top billing over Summer Strallen and everyone else in the cast (note, I am not comparing Lesley Garrett and Elaine Paige in terms of performance etc, just making a point ).

drives me maaaaaad.........

Good point (unfortunately!) but at least with EP she wa playing the title role!

personally I'm finding this pretty irritating- I saw the show last night and people clapped and whooped when she came onstage for "June"!
It wouldn't ahve been acceptable to applaud anyone else's entry so why do these people think it's ok to interupt the other people in the theatre's chain of though- people who have gone for the show not the freakin "name on the poster"

rRRRRAAAAARRRR!

I'll begin by saying that I recognise that we all have a right to an opinion.. but do you have to be so negative? In these days of chat rooms and discussion boards posts of this ilk do our theatre industry no good at all. Rather than deride the cast for improvising when let down by technology praise them for their ingenuity. It isn't easy so show the performers some respect.
I too have seen this production and along with most critics thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it.
The production was tight,all the cast showing a real understanding of the themes;the dance was innovative and moving especially the ballet scene so beautifully danced by Wise and Dwyer; the vocals were outstanding and I don't just mean Ms. Garrett;the acting believable, and yes certain accents need work. BUT the purpose of a short tour is to iron out problems BEFORE the show hits town so I find your prediction of 'an early closure' a little premature. I'll certainly book seats when the show plays at the Savoy.

HEAR HEAR!

No one said that production was awful, only that Nettie couldn't sing her song. I think it was Meg johnson...

I wish they'd recorded the original NT cast, with Patricia Routledge as Nettie. In fact, I wish they'd recorded that production for video like the Nunn Oklahoma!.

Looking forward to this production too, especially Alexandra Silber's Julie

She is fab. I'm afraid she's probably the only reason I'd see this particular production. It's going to take something pretty special to erase the memories of Hytner's groundbreaking and insightful production at the RNT and Kenneth Macmillan's wonderful choreography (tragically the last work he did before his premature death)

Sebastian

I will be seeing this at Wimbledon because firstly I like the show & then of course Alexandra Silber has a beautiful voice.

Al Silber is top notch

I saw it in Plymouth and thought it was fantastic.

I went with a poor opinion of the show after seeing the UK Productions Darren Day and Sam Kane production in 2000.

I thought the singing and orchestra was great. The ballet scene fantastic.

Thank god the people of Plymouth didn't clap Lesley Garrett's arrival as I agree with others who have posted, I hate that.

The Carousel projection worked perfectly well and I quite like this effect.

Overall a great night out. I love it when you go to the theatre with no expectations but leave with a smile on your face.

If anyone wants to see the show in Manchester, we have five pairs of tickets up for grabs in our competition.

Thanks, Glenn

WOS Manchester

There is actually an audio CD recording of the NT production which is available in the NT shop.

I went to see it at Wimbledon last night. I assume all those who have referred to great acting were not including Lesley Garrett. This was the worst performance in a leading role I have seen for a long time. It has been pointed out that the actress playing Nettie in the NT ( Patricia R) was not a good singer. This is to some extent true but she made up for it in the passion & warmth of her performance. Lesley G simply cannot act - watching her is deeply embarrasing. As to her singing, Nettie is not a soprano role & I found "June is bustin out all Over" sung in a high pitch totally wrong. Thankfully, she lowered the register a little for "You'll Never Walk Alone" In terms of both singing & acting, Al Silber & Jeremiah James were both very good although they were never going to match the definitive performances of Michael Hayden & Joanna Riding in the NT production. The sets were also far less impressive than those at the NT although I did like the graphics just before the robbery scene.
Incidentally, contrary to my expectations, Lesley G took the penultimate curtain call (notwithstanding her top billing) & Al & Jeremiah the final curtain call. This, of course, is as it should be & is the one thing I give Lesley G credit for. I'd be interested to know if this has been the case throughout the tour or represents a recent change.

No she took the penultiment one in Plymouth. This is quite right. After all she is not playing the lead role.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Saturday matinée & the casting was well done.
Downside was Lesley Garrett in "You'll never walk alone". She has not the right voice for this, hard to hear the words (unlike the other singers), and seemed at times to be singing to the audience more than to the performance.

Shame on you Wimbledon Theatre - NO programmes left. They produced a blurry photocopy of cast list after the show.

If anyone wishes to part with their programme please let me know.

Couple of things
1. programmes, not the venues fault! Happened at Bromely too!
2. bows have been changed, previously they just took a group bow, not sure when they started doing them seperately!
3. Lesley Garrett. As I said above, saw this in Bromely an dthen again in Wimbledonlast night and haveto give our Lesley her due, her acting isgetting better (even if she did randomly wink at me during the clambake, lol!)
also, I don't think she's a terrible actress and tbh I think there are several of them struggling with accents along side her.

Big up to all the Al fans on here btw, Myself and a freind run her facebook pagewhich can be found at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15531967310&ref=ts

I thought Bromley was a Co-Producer....

Programmes are always produced by the venue at big receiving houses, usually never the producers - so it is a venue problem

So - they miscalculated at Bromley as well as Wimbledon!

[quote name='Daniel' date='Nov 8 2008, 12:29 PM' post='52599']
There is actually an audio CD recording of the NT production which is available in the NT shop.

It has been pointed out that the actress playing Nettie in the NT ( Patricia R) was not a good singer. This is to some extent true but she made up for it in the passion & warmth of her performance.

NOT TRUE!!

Patricia Routledge is an excellent singer and was amazing in the role at the RNT. The recording was made with Meg Johnson as Nettie, and although not as good, still gave a great performance.

Give me either of those actresses over Lesley Garrett.

*news just in* Leslie Garrett will not be going on in Manchester Opening/Press Night at the Opera House tonight!

I will be interested to see how this goes down considering she is the 'Headline' performer!

awww I have friends there tonight that's a shame....ah well, understudy love as always

Some people have all the luck. Wish she had given Wimbledon a miss also

Went to see 1st preview last night at the Savoy - enjoyed the show but totally knocked out by the orchestra - there were 19 of them and they were absolutly superb. I heard every last nuance of the score from the back of the dress circle so the sound guys were clearly doing something right too.

As for the rest of the show? Great cast, great lighting, not sure about the set...

Have to agree bout the set. Not too sure on theprojections!!

What I remember about the National's production was the wonderful production, sets and cast. to my mind the finest revival of the last twenty years. The openng sequence in particular was pure genius.

Does anyone know what time the show finishes in the evening?

10.35 or thereabouts

so who has seen this in the west end?

I went on opening night and then again on tuesday and the changes are amazing.

It's perfecty cast, Al Silber is astounding as Julie Jordan along with Jeremiah James as Billy Bigelow.

Lesley Garret is good - she does NOT deserve top billing but yeh she's ok.

If you don't wanna go for the actors- go for the orchestra and the technical side - WOW!

I couldn't agree more, I thought Alexandra Silber was amazing as Julie, in my opinion the show belongs to her. She filled it with such subtle colours and rich emotions, and to top it all off her voice is GLORIOUS. (I really liked her in Fiddler, but she shines in this) I thought she was well matched by Jeremiah James, they are a classy pair. I also thought Graham MacDuff was outstanding as Jigger, as was Lindsey Wise as Louise. This being said, the entire cast was very strong, (even Garrett!)

The dancing is BEAUTIFUL, the scene work SO detailed and the singing top notch. Go along! It is well worth the trip.

Is there a better sounding Orchestra in the west end? Prob been to most of the major shows and yet to hear a band fill a theatre like that. Quite liked the cast too, even Lesley.

Why are people still referring back to a production 20 years ago?? It may well have been brilliant i cannot say as i was not at an age where i was going to the theatre all the way back then! As for THIS production of Carousel, i thought it was brilliant well sung, well acted and a thoroughly enjoyable night, All of the Leads were great Silber, James, Hood and Garrett all fantastic in there own right, and well backed up by the rest of the cast. The projections.......they are MODERN technology, yeah things might go wrong every now and then but, think of in 5, 10 years when the projections are so good that you can create anything on stage it is a step forward!! If Nicholas De Jong can give it 4/5 then go and see it and make your own minds up! If not you can go see Twelfth Night or a Midsummer Nights Dream actually didnt some one else do it in 16 hundred and something........preferred that version!!

Indeed!

I preferred the 1753 and 1904 productions of Twelfth Night. I don't see how the new production could POSSIBLY have ANYTHING new to say. . .

I see it's at TKTS on a Saturday night. Oh dear

the orchestra (and the vocals) are so over amplified and badly time aligned it sounds un-natural, and if you like clunky sets that rattle, wobble and look a bit "am dram" then yes its great! The projections are far from amazing, what are the doorways in the carosel gauze all about, nobody even needs to go through them and spoils what would otherwise have been a good effect.
For all the video projections are start with good intent, it does look like someone is playing a large video game to cover a couple of the scene changes which you hear going on in the background!

Moby

Are the projections as bad as the ones from the RFH Wizard of Oz?

The stalls seemed at best two thirds full on Friday night, and I agree with whoever mentioned the orchestra being at times overamplified. The projections were also at times underwhelming. Certainly not as bad as what was on display at the Wizard of Oz at the RFH earlier this year, but still, definitely could have been better I felt. I quite liked the actual Carousel effect, but with some later parts where scenic views are flown through, I think I know design students who can produce more realistic looking landscapes.

On a better note I thought the cast, Alex Silber especially, were fantastic. Whilst the origins of Lesley Garret's accent were at different times traceable to America, Ireland and Doncaster, she sounded beautiful. I did think in some of the group numbers the dancers weren't always in unison, but the chorus members all looked to be having a great time during the big dance pieces.

I really can't say I'm surprised at this. Because, whilst, for some this is a timeless classic - others will simply see it as old hat, irrespective of the quality of the production. For me, the prospect of hearing Lesley Garret belting out 'June is Bustin Out All Over' is about as attractive as being forced to eat a school dinner and it looks as if I'm not alone.

I fear that like "Imagine This" the producers have made a very grave error with the ticket prices which simply do not span a wide enough range. In particular the lowest price is way too high and they are putting off prospective purchasers by not advertising the hope that a ticket (even if it is 20 day seats) can be got "From £20".

Sorry but I would not be surprised if this does not see out its booking period.

which is extremely sad given the amount of time and effort gone into it and it was sold out most nights while on tour.

i am in the band for carousel..glad you thought it sounded good!

Does the Savoy have some kind of curse?