Most bizarre liberties taken with source material in a theatre adaptation?
Aug 19
2015, 04:58:59 AM
There is a UK tour of Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca going around atm. It is totally rewritten by the director to reflect strong females and the Cornish coast. Really. The famous opening scene, "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley" cuts to the Welsh manservant, played by a woman, running around and answering the phone, telling everyone about his mother's dry vagina and special cream from the doctor. Seriously. Later on, Beatrice and her husband become Wilso
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Favorite twists in theatre Courious
Mar 7
2015, 12:15:53 PM
The staging of the Jeremy Sams Sound of Music has a massive twist in its staging, where after finally allowing the audience to sing along after two hours, at the Salzburg Festival, the stormtroopers****their guns and point them out into the audience, suddenly silencing all of the stalls who have started to sing. Its thoroughly chilling.
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Whistle Down The Wind??
Feb 11
2015, 12:00:47 PM
With regards to the set, there was a discussion back when Kerry Ellis got trapped in the lift in Wicked a few years back.
"The entire stage floor was a big fake tarmac surface, like a motorway. Most of the time it was used just as a floor. During the train tunnel an freeway scenes, the entire floor raised half way up the proscenium, forming a flat elevated stage area above, and another flat area area below. This was used to great effect during the Finale of Act One, when the children
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Whistle Down The Wind??
Feb 8
2015, 03:14:03 PM
The set of the OLC hospitalised many cast members.... I believe it has now acquired a legendary reputation, and is a textbook example of health and safety.
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Musicals That Never Made It To Broadway
Nov 1
2014, 12:39:44 PM
Bringing up Lolita My Love from the depths of the thread.....
I've recently rediscovered the soundboard and despite the stunning score... it makes me think HOW ON EARTH DID THEY THINK THIS WOULD BE WATCHABLE? The subject matter, regardless of the execution, is utterly, utterly unsuitable for musical comedy....
Explaining the songs just shows how off-target Lerner and Barry got it.
Going Going Gone - a group of paedophiles sing about taking MANY girls virginity. I
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Chess the Musical
Oct 3
2014, 10:51:28 AM
Menzel was APPALLING as Florence, the DVD hid a multitude of sins. On the first night of the concert, she hadn't even bothered to learn the lyrics and didn't sing in time with the music. There are countless other performers who could have done justice to the material.
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How Miss Hannigan SHOULD be done!
Sep 25
2014, 03:44:36 PM
He does evil women VERY well. Scarily well.
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London's Gillian Anderson STREETCAR cinecast
Sep 19
2014, 09:43:57 AM
From a technical point, I think they should have stopped the revolve for the NT Live showing. It proved very difficult to keep the camera on without a piece of scenery floating past.
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Image to release the OBC INTO THE WOODS performance on Blu-Ray
Sep 6
2014, 11:45:40 AM
No 720*480 is the digital resolution of NTSC and DVD, non-widescreen. That is even higher than the resolution of the analogue video tape used to record Into the Woods, so no quality loss there. Utter pointlessness releasing it on Bluray .
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Image to release the OBC INTO THE WOODS performance on Blu-Ray
Sep 6
2014, 09:47:00 AM
Pointless, as it was only taped in NTSC (720*480) back in the eighties. Very little benefit in upscaling to HD. Things worth releasing in HD are the recording of the 'Kiss Me Kate' revival with Brent Barrett, 'Hey Mr Producer!' and the 10th anniversary Les Mis concert. All of which were actually taped in HD.
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The Broadway Mega-Musicals
Aug 20
2014, 10:43:12 AM
I think a megamusical is where the PHYSICAL PRODUCTION and STAGING become integral to the show.
Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, Gypsy etc - are songs dance and story combined...
but
The Phantom of the Opera - has a falling chandelier. You go for the chandelier.
Miss Saigon - has a helicopter. Likewise.
Les Mis - has a turntable and a barricade
Starlight - people on roller-skates
Cats - dancing cats in lycra
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Witches Of Eastwick
Aug 19
2014, 09:54:40 AM
It was rewritten in London during the original run and scale-down in the move to the Prince of Wales theatre from Drury Lane, then rewritten again for the Australian production. It was rewritten for the Signature Theatre, Virginia production and UK tour. The show has had a lot of rewrites lol!
Nowadays, Loose Ends is dumped, Eye of the Beholder is replaced with In Your Wildest Dreams (where Alex strips off), Darryl has a new song aswell.
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Original London Cast of Into The Woods.
Aug 7
2014, 06:54:30 AM
I think the UK production had to be totally different in tone than its Broadway counterpart, due to the British tradition of pantomime. Every year, audiences see Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk and other Fairy tales on stage in comedic, all-singing and all-dancing pantos.... Into the Woods definitely isn't one of these, there has to be a definite difference.
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LOVE NEVER DIES eyeing Broadway; Completely new ending?
Mar 18
2014, 11:26:45 AM
I saw LND Version 1 in London and literately sat with my mouth open for most of the show. Once there was a song about Christine having sex in a dark alley with the Phantom, we thought it could get no worse. Oh wait, theres a four-armed robomonkey.....
Shame is, the music is DELICIOUS at times, and the physical production was sheer genius in Act 1, with 3D projections along with massive set pieces - but Act 2 gave up leading to an empty stage filled with a) wallpaper or b) a frame representin
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Matilda OBC digital download?
Sep 27
2013, 10:08:22 AM
Its a very different performance of Bertie Carvel as Miss. Trunchbull compared to the Stratford recording.
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Lack of English accents in Sweeney Todd - WTF?
Aug 25
2012, 08:42:32 AM
I'm British, and have never heard esplanade pronounced as es-pla-nard, only as though it rhymed with lemonade.
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Why'd
Jul 19
2012, 02:36:58 PM
THe book Chess:The Making of a Musical tells the tale of the chaos that reigned with Chess in London when Michael Bennett fell ill. The costumes were designed for the Bennett production, the cast were brought in for Bennett's show, and the mammoth set, which was designed with flying TV screens, multiple rotating chessboards and virtually no scenery, was tailor made for Michael Bennett's vision, which noone else could imagine or create.
Trevor Nunn was pulled in he had to stitch these
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Linzi Hately in Les Miz movie!
Jul 4
2012, 04:43:14 PM
Linzi is far too lovely to play a whore!
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Delayed movie musicals... or ones that never happened
Feb 17
2012, 08:49:01 AM
The original Phantom movie was due in around 1990 and had got as far as pre-production and set design IIRC.
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Love Never Dies DVD ?
Feb 14
2012, 12:14:29 PM
I have a copy here... it has been shot in 1:2.35 ratio, as in Panavision/Cinemacope (very widescreen), and is presented on the disc optimised for a widescreen display.....
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