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Post by Gargleblaster on Nov 21, 2017 12:47:52 GMT
I went last night accompanied by a friend who is mad about musicals. "Annie" is not my cup of tea but I went just so my friend didn't go alone.
We arrived at the theater early and were seated 20 minutes before the show started. Unfortunately in those twenty minutes we were "entertained" by 1930 recordings of Franklin D Roosevelt speeches played at full blast and heavily distorted.
When the show started neither my companion nor I could understand a word that the children were singing and it was the same way throughout the show. Part of the problem was that the cast was all miked and the sound system far too loud. The only actor we could understand was the one who played the billionaire Oliver Warbucks. In addition to that the accompanying music was provided by one person sitting at an electronic keyboard that produced the sounds of a multitude of instruments, all played far too loudly. I hope that this isn't the future of West End musicals.
Even the pulling power of Craig Revel Horwood in the part of Miss Hannigan couldn't save the day. Having a man play the part didn't really seem to add anything to the production.
I don't know who was responsible for the choreography but personally it left me unimpressed.
Leaving aside my own somewhat distempered view, I have to say the mainly young audience seemed to enjoy it thoroughly.
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Post by profbooboo on Nov 21, 2017 14:23:37 GMT
I don't like a lone person trying to recreate an orchestra, it doesn't work. I went to see Nativity! and that was only a small regional show (which is touring) and while not a huge orchestra, you could see a small group with a conductor in the pit with one female playing about 3-4 different instruments including saxaphone, clarinet and maybe flute. Sorry, you had a bad time. Annie is a sort of love or hate musical. It's quite sickly sweet in places. I saw it many years ago at a regional theatre and it was Su Pollard as Miss Hannigan and she was really good, very funny, completely OTT, but it worked. I wasn't that bothered about going but my mom wanted to see it so I surprised her and ended up enjoying it aswell. I'm surprised they haven't tried to get Pollard for Strictly.
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Post by marion on Nov 21, 2017 18:33:03 GMT
I saw this when it was on tour, pre the West End run, and thought it was great, which surprised me as I don't like the film. I agree that the children were over miked but generally we all enjoyed it and could hear everyone. But perhaps we would have expected more from a WE show, and perhaps they had changed things for a possibly bigger theatre. I know for instance they made big changes to Stepping Out.
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Post by Gargleblaster on Nov 21, 2017 20:43:54 GMT
Sorry, you had a bad time. Annie is a sort of love or hate musical. It's quite sickly sweet in places. I'm not saying that I hated it but I didn't enjoy it either. I can understand the appeal for some people but my own taste in musicals is for the more witty and sometimes acerbic lyrics of Lorenz Hart or Stephen Sondheim. We both say Sondheim's "Follies" the other week and both enjoyed it much more even though I don't think it is his best work. I would place "Company", Sweeney Todd" and "In to the Woods" among his best. A little to my chagrin I thought I had booked "Company" for the 22nd of November but checking my booking I see it is for November the 22nd 2018!!
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Post by profbooboo on Nov 21, 2017 21:32:57 GMT
I like Sweeney Todd. I've never had the chance to see it live. I wish they'd bring out live musicals on DVD. I don't think it would affect ticket sales. You have 10th anniversary and 25th anniversaries of Les Miz and people still see that. And I went to see Chicago and The Producers after I'd seen the movies, the movies made me want to see it live. Where's Company playing? There was a Carnigie Hall concert for Sondheim to celebrate his 80th birthday and it had Bernedette Peter's and Mandy Patinkin singing Move On and various other artist, and at the end the doors opened and artists from all over Broadway who were in running productions entered and sang the title song from Sunday In The Park With George. It was so moving, Sondheim was in tears. Lovely.
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Post by Gargleblaster on Nov 21, 2017 22:42:11 GMT
I like Sweeney Todd. I've never had the chance to see it live. I wish they'd bring out live musicals on DVD. I don't think it would affect ticket sales. You have 10th anniversary and 25th anniversaries of Les Miz and people still see that. And I went to see Chicago and The Producers after I'd seen the movies, the movies made me want to see it live. Where's Company playing? There was a Carnigie Hall concert for Sondheim to celebrate his 80th birthday and it had Bernedette Peter's and Mandy Patinkin singing Move On and various other artist, and at the end the doors opened and artists from all over Broadway who were in running productions entered and sang the title song from Sunday In The Park With George. It was so moving, Sondheim was in tears. Lovely. I was fortunate enough to see the semi-staged performance at the ENO last year with Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson and it was marvellous even though Bryn Terfel is not a very good actor. Not so long ago there was a full version of the same cast but at the Lincoln Center on YouTube but it seems to have disappeared. "Company" will be at the Gielgud Theater in November next year. I don't know how many birthday tributes there have been to Sondheim on his 80th birthday but I have only seen two. The first one was given at the 2011 London Proms and the second was the the New York version that doesn't hold a candle to the Proms version. With the exception of the absolutely sizzling version of "America" for which Sondheim of course wrote the words, the performances are singularly underwhelming. Who had the not very brilliant and pointless idea of turning the duet from "Sweeney Todd" in to a trio with two men taking the part of Sweeney? Not a good idea. David Hyde Pierce makes a genial host but overall the London tribute wins hands down. It is better directed, better sung, better played and better acted. For those of you who weren't privileged to see it, I'm sorry. My American friends who have seen the London version are very much in agreement with me.
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Post by profbooboo on Nov 21, 2017 23:19:56 GMT
I preferred the Proms version as well. But I do like Sunday during the Carnegie version. Julian Ovenden sang Being Alive during the Proms version, and his version of Move On is lovely too.
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Post by Gargleblaster on Nov 22, 2017 8:16:44 GMT
In listing what I consider to be Sondheim's best work I've just realised that I missed out "A Little Night Music". I was fortunate to see the wonderful performance directed by Trevor Nunn at the Mernier Chocolate factory in which Hannah Waddington gave, in my opinion, the best version ever of "Send in the clowns". She portray to perfection the older, resigned, disillusioned woman, something that other singers have misunderstood completely. Judy Collins turned it in to a dirge, Frank Sinatra admitted that he didn't know what the song was about, Barbara Streisland emotes left right and centre as per usual, Shirley Bassey belts it out. One has to understand the context of the song to be able to sing it correctly.
Here's a fascinating video of Sondheim himself teaching the song actually to a student who is far too young for the part:
Notice how meticulous he is about the phrasing.
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Post by profbooboo on Nov 22, 2017 14:02:02 GMT
Oh that's Jaye Griffiths, I didn't know she could sing. She plays Elle in Casualty at the moment and was Sally Johnson in The Bill. I heard someone say (I can't remember who) that you don't have to be the best singer to sing Sondheim music but you have to be able to act it. Send in the Clowns is something you need to act out, I agree about Bassey, she has an amazing voice, but that song isn't really one you can belt out.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 14:52:51 GMT
My favourite Sondheim song is ‘ Am I Losing My Mind’ from Follies, the best version for me is sung by Julia McKenzie, not a perfect voice but all the better for it.
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Post by profbooboo on Nov 22, 2017 21:36:39 GMT
That's a lovely song, Liz. There's a show from a few years ago called Hey Mr Producer which celebrates Cameron Mackintosh productions and there's a section of music from Sondheim musicals and McKenzie is there, but I think it's Michael Ball singing Losing My Mind, McKenzie I think sings part of Gotta Have A Gimmick with Ruthie Henshall. Very good.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2017 22:46:28 GMT
It can reduce me to tears quite easily 😥
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Post by yankee on Oct 8, 2019 16:07:31 GMT
I recall seeing a documentary one time that focused on the later careers of quite a few of the young ladies who played Annie on Broadway.
Turns out many of them did not have a good time of it. The demands of playing a lead role at such a tender age messed with a lot of their heads. And since it was a first lead they often wound-up being type cast as well limiting future opportunities.
Seems every young hopeful probably dreams of playing Annie and many a stage-mother drags her daughter in a red wig to open auditions to live vicariously through her.
The girls who played secondary orphans however often did much better in their later careers as being in the show gave them great experience without the full demand or over exposure of being the lead.
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