Women on the Verge...- Page 2

[mrkringas]

Posted: 6/24/14 at 5:28am

"Mostly she's well known for her lead roles in classic 00s Channel 4 comedies Black Books and Green Wing."

*shudder*

Hence why I didn't 'discover' her until 2010 and then knew exactly who she was in Jumpy. Reminds me of seeing Guys and Dolls back in 2005 and my friend was like 'ooo thats her off telly' (or words to that effect) in reference to Jenna Russell.

My response. Oh right. At that point I knew her as someone who sang on a John Barr album and had a stack of musical credits from before my time living in London.

[luke-h***]

Posted: 6/30/14 at 8:08am

Very much looking forward to this. I think the limited run will be the most we will get out of it, and I imagine if the rewrites are good enough, aznd word of mouth is better it will last the whole 5 months. Almodovar is a lot more celebrated as a filmmaker in Europe, so I think the name will sell a few more tickets than we anticipate, and along with Tamson Greig, I think it'll be safe for those five months. Look at how succesful the play adaptation of All About My Mother at Trafalgar Studios was. Either way I'm excited; had tickets for it on Broadway, however missed it due to the early closing.

Also, Phantom of London, I'd just like to remind you in reference to your earlier post, this musical is not based on a book.

EDIT: The Old Vic, not Trafalgar.

Updated On: 6/30/14 at 08:08 AM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/11/14 at 3:28pm

Keeping my fingers crossed...I may actually get to see this! Saw the Broadway production and LOVED IT.

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 9/9/14 at 9:21am

Further casting announced with the excellent Hadyne Gwynne, Jerome Pradon and Anna Skellern will join Tasmin Greig.

Excellent news for me, big news in theatre circles, but cannot see the box office going berserk!

[sparepart973]

Posted: 9/9/14 at 11:35am

Wow, this is so great! I was just listening to Hadyne singing "You Can Always Count on Me" form City of Angels in my car this morning and wondering what she'd be up to (on another note, do we know who will play this character in the Donmar City of Angels?).

I guess Anna Skellern will play Candella and Tamsin will be Paulina and Jerome will be Ivan.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 9/9/14 at 12:37pm

Great casting.

[Owen22]

Posted: 9/9/14 at 4:29pm

Oddly enough, two of the most celebrated roles (if not THE most celebrated) in "City of Angels" and "Women" are being played by basically unknowns. Rebecca Trehearn is Oolie/Donna (she's currently quite good I hear in the Annaleigh Ashford role in "Dogfight") and now Skellern (whose credits mean nothing to this Yank) as Canella...maybe star salaries were used up for the leads, as these are both supporting roles. And the best roles in the plays!

[bob8rich]

Posted: 9/9/14 at 6:08pm

I love Haydn Gwynne! Really excited about seeing her in Women On The Verge!

Sparepart973 - the role of Oolie/Donna at the Donmar will be played by Rebecca Trehearn, who is amazing as Marcy in Dogfight at the Southwark Playhouse. She was awesome as Molly in the UK tour of Ghost - and her previous West End credits include Love Story, Dirty Dancing and Aspects Of Love.

I've been really lucky to have worked with Rebecca - she was our leading lady in the workshop of my musical My Land's Shore and she recorded two songs for my album Words Shared With Friends. She's an incredible actress and her vocals are "to die for". She will be seriously fantastic in City Of Angels.

[sparepart973]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 3:03am

Rebecca is GREAT! I saw her in Ghost, once understudying Molly and once on tour. Her voice is really special.

[ajh]

Posted: 9/10/14 at 1:37pm

Fair enough but what are her comic chops like? Oolie/Donna is a wonderful comic role, the singing is probably a secondary consideration.

[sparepart973]

Posted: 9/15/14 at 3:52pm

I agree, AJH. This role/song requires a "broad" type. I honestly think it will be her first public comic role. She's usually cast as the sad leading lady because she can sing the living crap out of a ballad.

[ajh]

Posted: 9/16/14 at 3:44am

Sparepart973, you should be her agent ! Or a critic....I would love one day to see "she can sing the living crap out of a ballad" used as a pull quote outside a theatre. Ha ha!
Anyways, she is unexpected casting for this but am hoping she'll be excellent. I know Jenna Russell was rumoured at one stage, not that she is even available now, and she does seem like a very good fit.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 9/17/14 at 3:26am

She certainly can "sing the living crap out of a ballad" - in fact she can sing the living crap out of any kind of song. But she is also a brilliantly intuitive actress who is dedicated to her craft and comedy is part of that craft. She will totally inhabit this role as she has done with every role she's taken on (and the roles in her extensive career on stage, tv, workshops, recordings are a pretty eclectic mix). I think she's going to blow everyone away in this role.

Back to Women On The Verge - there are some pretty surprising casting choices there on the face of it. But I'm sure those performers have extra strings to their bows which I've not witnessed before and will turn out to be great too.

[ajh]

Posted: 9/17/14 at 12:06pm

Good to hear, bob8rich; gotta say, I thought she was very strong in Dogfight, so much so that I found it hard to imagine her as drippy Molly in Ghost (I only saw Cassie Levy).

I wasn't sure who Anna Skellern was so I googled her and, on a looks basis alone, she is a terrific fit for Candela, although anybody who ever plays that has a hard act to follow after the divine Benanti's ravaging tour de force with "Model Behaviour"

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 9/18/14 at 3:13pm

And that was just one number! Benanti sustained that level of brilliance throughout the entire show. I was disappointed she (and the score) didn't win the Tony.

[Rockyfan2000]

Posted: 12/31/14 at 12:13pm

Saw the show a week gone Monday and was very impressed.

It's been sized down using only a unit set, songs have been cut and the emphasis is more on the women. Before the performance commenced, we, the audience, were informed by Bartlett Sher that the cast had been "rehearsing all day", "making major changes" and "shouldn't get annoyed if the show had to stopped". Apart from one small hitch the show went very smoothly and I'm positive that the cast will settle down and become more comfortable with everything before press night.

The only thing that took a bit of getting used to was the use of British accents. "Candela" spoke with a cockney accent! The only actor who spoke with a Spanish accent was the "Taxi Driver". Interesting decision.

Go see it.

[bob8rich]

Posted: 1/3/15 at 6:23pm

Saw this tonight and was blown away. Intelligent, engaging, hilariously funny, a knock-out score and great performances all round. Absolute standouts for me were Ricardo Afonso (such a great flair for comedy and his vocals are amazing) and Haydn Gwynne' (her rendition of INVISIBLE was simply stunning ).

[imeldasturn]

Posted: 1/4/15 at 6:52am

Haydn Gwynne is incredible in it!

[Whileshesleeps]

Posted: 1/5/15 at 4:50am

Saw this on 26th December.
Really enjoyed the show and a very talented cast. I just got the feeling that the cast's hearts weren't in performances.
Having seen the film, the manic farce and ridiculousness of some scenes seemed to be lost. I got the feeling that the script's language may have been cleaned up a bit . Whilst not one liking swearing it did seem that some scenes lacked something....
I was expecting a little more of the songs - whilst there are 7 in each act in act one a couple were no more than 30 seconds. It did have the feel of a play with songs rather than a musical.Thought Act 2 have more pace to it and the comedy came through much better.
Hayden Gwynne was the stand out performance and sadly underused. Felt she had the right level of madness throughout the show which reflected the part in the original film.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/17/15 at 3:21pm

Anyone know if this may extend?

[lotiloti]

Posted: 1/18/15 at 7:46am

It is doomed, as far as I'm concerned. Saw it last night. I thought it, poorly executed, unfunny (nobody was laughing!) and tedious.

[ZiggyCringe]

Posted: 1/26/15 at 5:16am

Can somebody who saw this post a song list from the program?

[japhun2]

Posted: 1/31/15 at 9:20am

watching this on Tuesday! Can't wait!

[lotiloti]

Posted: 1/31/15 at 10:11am

Is this drivel, still on!

[bob8rich]

Posted: 1/31/15 at 12:57pm

It is indeed still on - booking until May. And I hope it continues long after that.

It's one of the few musicals currently in the West End that I could class as intelligent, sophisticated, hilariously funny AND has a score full of stunning songs. And the performances are all from the top drawer, with Haydn Gwynne possibly giving THE best musical theatre performance by an actress currently in the West End.

It's fascinating to see though that someone else can have a totally different perspective on a show that totally blew me away. But IMO there are a couple of shows in the West End that I would possibly describe as "drivel" - this is not one of them!