Profile for ImaginaryManticore

I'm British, but don't have strong feelings about it because I'm not interested in the monarchy. It could be tasteless, it could be good. If it's well written and thoughtfully made, then why not?I'm sure someone will complain about it because the royals make an attention-grabbing headline, and a lot of people will read 'musical' and assume it's nothing but shallow escapism. But if the musical actually has something compelling to say about that exact weird celebrity culture surrounding modern ...

There's a lot of evidence that the delta variant can infect people who are vaccinated. This is again anecdotal, but I know people who have caught it with both AstraZeneca and Pfizer. So even if you're probably not in serious danger after being vaccinated, the spread of the virus isn't going away.In a mostly vaccinated population with the delta variant around, the main issue with making any kinds of plans is that you'll catch it and have to cancel everything. It's the same with the cast and ev...

I love the trailer! I have really high hopes for this. I don't think it will be a Last Five Years situation because unlike that, they've got a new screenwriter credited and there's a lot more potential to open the script up from its three-person musical origins (which had already been opened up from the one-man musical before it). I've also just seen that (as well as Dear Evan Hansen) Steven Levenson was the showrunner on Fosse/Verdon, where it was also clear that the writers understood theat...

This truly is the perfect production for when Broadway reopens! On top of what the creative team says about connection, how many people in the past year have had to celebrate very strange birthdays?Everyone who will get to see it is so lucky.

Yes, if I recall correctly, at the end the Emcee was made to strip and was rounded up into a huddle of other prisoners. I can't remember what they reordered because I didn't know the show well at the time. It was a good production but didn't feel definitive like the Mendes staging must have been.

This is great news! This must be one of Jessie Buckley's first returns to theatre after making a name for herself outside it. I assumed Eddie Redmayne would be playing Cliff, but I guess we'll see how he does as Emcee...The 2006 revival was critically acclaimed and successful enough to run for two years. As far as I remember, the 2012 revival was only the touring version of the 2006 production, scaled and toned down. (Yes, there was a fair amount of nudity in 2006. Which I did not know before...

starlightlocamotion said: "100% agree with everything you stated...However, it’s an issue that in almost 20 years we’ve never had a full time Elphaba of color in the show. This is a chance to somewhat rectify that on a HUGE scale."In the West End Alexia Khadime played the role for a couple years. I think that in this day and age, a white Elphaba in the movie will be called out as a missed opportunity. Yes, it's a fantasy and doesn't go into social issues in a deep way, but the musical's prett...

Even if they want to fill the cast with household names, Elphaba is the part that really doesn't need it. She's the Wicked Witch of the West and will be covered in make-up, so she's closer to the known superhero characters that have been played by up-and-comers.All Elphaba's songs are the type that will feel long and unnecessary onscreen unless the audience is genuinely blown away by the singing. Cynthia's the only one I can think of who would be able pull that off. Plus, the producers will u...

A new film of The King and I in this climate?! I really hope they're serious when they say they're reimagining it and hire the right people on all levels of the production, otherwise there will be so much backlash. But I'm interested. If they can make it work from less of a white perspective, I'd love to see it.To a lot of people R&H are defined by The Sound of Music, which is a great film but not their best musical.

It would need the right writer to make it work, but On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (author of The Hate U Give) was the first that came to mind. It's about a teenage girl who's an aspiring rapper.And okay, this is an anime movie, not a novel, but ever since I saw Your Name I've thought it would make an incredible musical.

Amazing! I cannot wait to see Vella Lovell as Harper.

Thanks for posting this. The video, along with this thread (which I know is old), proves that this musical can be stunning with great performances and not much else. Not to take away from how well made the video is overall!

blaxx said: "TotallyEffed said: "I just think it's silly to call great pieces of art "dated." Of course they are dated, they aren't brand new. Streetcar is "dated," but it's a timeless masterpiece. Eventually great works become classics."You're right, but some of the most powerful pieces are directed to their own place and time.That's why a lot of writers tend to focus on universal themes and very few write about their own times, they have less staying power.Shows like A Chorus Line, ReNt, IT...

It will have to be a show that can be separated completely from its original production, or probably any kind of theatrical production as we know it. People will need to listen to a recording or read a libretto and get why it works, if they're going to keep putting it on in some form. That removes anything reliant on spectacle like Phantom, I'd say. The same goes for it making sense with no cultural context.I'm cheating and giving several options:Hamilton - if the US is still around, this mus...

I'd love to see a sci-fi musical done well. The difficulty with a lot of classic sci-fi is that a lot of them tend to be stories of ideas. They don't revolve around characters' wants and relationships, because it's more about their reactions to the world around them. Not a lot of drama, I guess. But there are exceptions.I think some of the less literal aspects of theatre would really lend itself to speculative fiction. You're not stuck in real time, like on film, and you can deal with ideas i...

I was glad to see Netflix donating to the theatre fund, but it's going to take so much more than the occasional donation, even one of that size.We're getting to a point when the theatre would be able to put on carefully planned productions, except there's no way of getting an audience safely and profitably. If a streaming company could use their platform to fund and stream productions (even in an empty theatre), it would at least provide some work for the industry and keep it going.Netflix al...

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter. It could start out small as she starts describing her life from her dressing room, but then could expand as the events get wilder and more surreal. (Like Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill transforming into Cabaret in form)

With Once, I'd also argue that the staging and actor-musician concept pushed it towards being a musical, more than the film was. Yes, the characters were singing to each other, but the musicians were onstage as well even when they weren't part of the scene, kind of as if they were a dancing or singing chorus.Of course, that happens with plays that have songs too, when the songs aren't as linked to the story, like in War Horse. Hmmm.The difference is also probably to do with how involved the c...

I'm trained in copy-editing and I've never come across anything as bad as this. Ahem. I tried:Does Bernadette Peters, along with every other famous voice actor or actress, only like people who voice animals?So that would mean LeBron James isn't one of Bernadette's friends, nor is any other athlete; nor is any other famous voice actor or actress, like Nathan Lane, Mandy Moore, Judy Dench or Jo Ann Harris, right? Not unless LeBron or any other athlete voices an animal, right? And yet Michael St...

A Director said: "qolbinau said:Watching Hamilton I couldn’t help but reflect on these lyrics when comparing the USA right now to the UK.“ You’re on your ownAwesome. WowDo you have a clue what happens now?Oceans riseEmpires fallIt’s much harder when it’s all your callAll alone, across the seaWhen your people say they hate youDon’t come crawling back to me”"Don't get cocky! I can imagine the EU singing these lyrics to Great Britain about Brexit."Ha! EXACTLY!I'm not letting the UK government of...