West End Musical Shows
Discussion
They leave me cold. All that 'jazz hands', affected speech and thick make-up, nonesense and songs which all sound the same, at £40 a throw. Yet some people seemed obsessed. My neice uses up all of the her weekends away with the girls attending them, at some considerable cost. I went this time last year to see 'Grease' which was barely tolerable; much better as a film on CD IMHO, and only surviveable with a front row seat looking up Sandy's skirt which did have some delights. And the Elaine Page show on Radio 2 is music to slit your wrists to.
Convince me as to why people go.
Convince me as to why people go.
My wife daughetr and I went to see Wicked in London. By the time we had had a day in London, meals tickets at £65 a pop, parking, tubes etc we were into £500 for one day out. The show was fantastic and packed out.
You either get musicals or you don't. The same goes for going to Glastonbury to satnd so far from the stage in a pill of mud listening to people who cannot sign a patch on the show people.
You either get musicals or you don't. The same goes for going to Glastonbury to satnd so far from the stage in a pill of mud listening to people who cannot sign a patch on the show people.
I actually PERFORM in musicals. I've been in around 40 over the past 25 years.
I have just fiinished "The Full Monty" and have started rehearsing for "Jesus Christ - Superstar".
I went to see a local production of "Chess" on Saturday and it was extremely good.
If cost is an issue, have a look at local amateur productions. They are often surprisingly good and much better value for money - usually around £15 per ticket.
Here's the website of the group I perform with. All our profits go to charity and we are a charity in our own right.
http://www.cfaos.co.uk/
Not all musicals are "jazz Hands" - far from it. They cover a massive range of subjects, from counter insurgency operations against the Japanese in World War 2 (South Pacific), to the pogroms of Tsarist Russia (Fiddler on the Roof), blokes taking their kit off (The Full Monty), silliness in ficticious middle European principlaties (The Gypsy Baron) to man eating alien plants "Little Shop of Horrors).
I have just fiinished "The Full Monty" and have started rehearsing for "Jesus Christ - Superstar".
I went to see a local production of "Chess" on Saturday and it was extremely good.
If cost is an issue, have a look at local amateur productions. They are often surprisingly good and much better value for money - usually around £15 per ticket.
Here's the website of the group I perform with. All our profits go to charity and we are a charity in our own right.
http://www.cfaos.co.uk/
Not all musicals are "jazz Hands" - far from it. They cover a massive range of subjects, from counter insurgency operations against the Japanese in World War 2 (South Pacific), to the pogroms of Tsarist Russia (Fiddler on the Roof), blokes taking their kit off (The Full Monty), silliness in ficticious middle European principlaties (The Gypsy Baron) to man eating alien plants "Little Shop of Horrors).
Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 11th October 11:37
cal72 said:
Rotary Madness said:
West End stuff looks cheesy, I much prefer ballet 
Nutcracker in Dec, cant wait
When and where is this on. Nutcracker in Dec, cant wait
I spend an absolute fortune on musical theatre. I don't actually go, I just have three wimmin in the house who do.
Mrs F also works for a youth musical theatre group, the two Misses F both appear in their shows (they were in Les Mis at the 02 last weekend), youngest Miss F has set her sights on it as a career so all in all I don't have much choice.
Bloody thespians.
Mrs F also works for a youth musical theatre group, the two Misses F both appear in their shows (they were in Les Mis at the 02 last weekend), youngest Miss F has set her sights on it as a career so all in all I don't have much choice.
Bloody thespians.
They attract, for want of a better word, 'nutters', and my 16 year old daughter is one of them!
Obsessed is an under statement.
Living near Manchester adds to the cost, train fare, over night stop (if Virgin did a train back after 10pm we'd be laughing) and £60 a ticket all adds up to a dear do.
She's had met and had her pictures taken with all the big stars - I'm sure Lee Mead thinks we're stalkers. I got a mate at the Beeb in Manchester to get me in once when Lee Mead was doing a radio interview and he signed some pics (one in particular of him and my daughter taken a few months earlier went on to earn me serious 'good dad' points) and was an absolute gent. I've sent pics to be signed by Rachel Tucker, Kerry Ellis, and Dianne Pilkington on her behalf, often with covering notes and all of them have been returned with brilliant letters.
She, my daughter, 'tweets' regularly with cast members from the Lion King, runs a trading site which swaps videos and soundtracks from every musical you can think of (from Brisbane to Broadway!) and could quite easily get 20 out of 20 on Mastermind on the subject of er, musicals.
She, recently got fantastic GSCE grades but is now doing a Musical Theatre BTEC at college (much to my concern) with a view to getting into London Schools such as Mountview and RADA - I'd rather her do something more academic with better job prospects, but its her dream and I'll do everything I can to help her.
She seems to be quite typical of a few kids her age at the moment, its her whole life.
Some of the fan forums are an eye opener to. A couple of Lee Mead ones are full of people (women) who've spent fortunes following him all over the country and watching him some 50/60 times when he was Joseph at the Adelphi a few years ago.
TV has helped the appeal a lot too, in fact probably more than they know.
The find a star things that the BEEB do (Joseph, Maria and Dorothy) have appealed to such a far greater audience and and thus gained a massive new faithful.
Obsessed is an under statement.
Living near Manchester adds to the cost, train fare, over night stop (if Virgin did a train back after 10pm we'd be laughing) and £60 a ticket all adds up to a dear do.
She's had met and had her pictures taken with all the big stars - I'm sure Lee Mead thinks we're stalkers. I got a mate at the Beeb in Manchester to get me in once when Lee Mead was doing a radio interview and he signed some pics (one in particular of him and my daughter taken a few months earlier went on to earn me serious 'good dad' points) and was an absolute gent. I've sent pics to be signed by Rachel Tucker, Kerry Ellis, and Dianne Pilkington on her behalf, often with covering notes and all of them have been returned with brilliant letters.
She, my daughter, 'tweets' regularly with cast members from the Lion King, runs a trading site which swaps videos and soundtracks from every musical you can think of (from Brisbane to Broadway!) and could quite easily get 20 out of 20 on Mastermind on the subject of er, musicals.
She, recently got fantastic GSCE grades but is now doing a Musical Theatre BTEC at college (much to my concern) with a view to getting into London Schools such as Mountview and RADA - I'd rather her do something more academic with better job prospects, but its her dream and I'll do everything I can to help her.
She seems to be quite typical of a few kids her age at the moment, its her whole life.
Some of the fan forums are an eye opener to. A couple of Lee Mead ones are full of people (women) who've spent fortunes following him all over the country and watching him some 50/60 times when he was Joseph at the Adelphi a few years ago.
TV has helped the appeal a lot too, in fact probably more than they know.
The find a star things that the BEEB do (Joseph, Maria and Dorothy) have appealed to such a far greater audience and and thus gained a massive new faithful.
Edited by Fastra on Monday 11th October 14:12
And let's hope some are incentivised enough to give their local amateur societies a go - either to come and watch them perform or actually join in.
Local theatre always needs new blood and I am hopeful that these BBC Lloyd-Webber shows (which I don't actually watch myself) have given the musical theatre industry a fillup.
Local theatre always needs new blood and I am hopeful that these BBC Lloyd-Webber shows (which I don't actually watch myself) have given the musical theatre industry a fillup.
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff