Drowsy in London

[creasemouse]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 6:54am

I have to say I quite agree with them, especially the one from the Guardian and the Indep.

I guess it suffers because the Open Air Theatre in Regents Park is bringing back it’s fantastic production of The Boyfriend. This last year stared Summer Strallen aka Janet Vandergraff

However I think it's me and the critics who are alone everyone who sees it, loves it. It didn’t get a standing ovation but it still got a a big cheer. Despite this I’ts very easy to get reduced tickets for the brand new show with a star in – Looks like this show may not last too long in London


http://arts.guardian.co.uk/theatre/drama/reviews/story/0,,2097303,00.html

http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=207&story=E8821181203840

http://arts.independent.co.uk/theatre/reviews/article2632876.ece

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 9:11am

It might be best if all Broadway musicals and plays avoided London altogether. There's just no point.

[Dancin Thru Life]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 9:27am

I. AM. SHOCKED!

These same people, for whom Benny Hill is a National Treasure, failed to find the comedy in DROWSY? Hmmmm....

And what is with the triplet of references to The Boyfriend? Methinks someone copied someone's homework instead of seeing the show we all loved.

[Smaxie]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 9:34am

Well, to be fair, The Boy Friend is the gold standard of '20s musical parodies. It certainly is a valid reference point.

My issue is more to the fact that most theatre from London that arrives in New York is celebrated to the skies (with the occasional exceptions like Festen and Coram Boy) , while almost every Broadway or Off-Broadway musical or play sent to London is savaged. I can't think of any recent show that we've sent there that has truly landed on its feet (although I expect that the West End will eat up Jersey Boys with a spoon.)

[creasemouse]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 9:49am

I wouldnt say Benny Hill is a national treasure anymore. He was very much in the 70's but now most of just find him dated and very sexist. Still BH exports very well.

I think the last NY show to do well in London was Chicago. I guess it's too early too tell on Wicked - although this show is doing well despite getting mostly bad reviews

[raiosunshine]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 10:07am

I saw the show last Friday in London and Bob Martin definitely inserted a new line in the intro commenting on Broadway shows transferring to London and doing poorly. Being American, I totally had a good laugh, but I don't think the British people in the audience thought it was too funny...

[winston89]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 10:08am

Wicked got mixed to negative reviews on broadway. Clearly, that really hasn't done anything for ticket sales and the public opinion of the show.

I do think that it is harder to open up a broadeay show in London. When a west end how comes to broadway it is felebrated gbecause West End audiences have a diffferent tast in theatre that many broadway theatre goers wish broadway had more of. I mean more lavish musicals and more darker plays.

[Patti LuPone FANatic]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 11:20am

I've heard from time to time that the British theatre audience tends to be rather... what's a good word... sedate? Or would it be more appropriate to say "hard to please"? Just wondering.... from RC in Austin, Texas

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 11:29am

Actually, the reviews for the show in London were quite good. WhatsOnStage.com posts a "round-up" just as BWW does, and the overarching response is positive. Here is the link to the "round-up."
What's On Stage Review Round-Up: DROWSY

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 11:44am

Actors comment on the cold British theatre audiences.

Just yesterday (Friday 6/8/07), MARY POPPINS' Gavin Lee (a British actor) stated this on LIVE WITH REGIS & KELLY when Kelly Ripa asked him how different are American audiences from British audiences? He answered (while beaming a huge smile) that American audiences are 'louder'.

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 11:47am

Well, most people always mention that, I remember Brooke Shields saying that the audience is very quiet in London, anyways, I found the show terrible and Clive Barnes panned it in NYC too. I found nothing funny about this show.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 12:45pm

Funny, but not all of the critics disliked it, as reported in the Toronto Star this week:

http://www.thestar.com/article/223017

[Weez]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 12:48pm

I've heard from time to time that the British theatre audience tends to be rather... what's a good word... sedate? Or would it be more appropriate to say "hard to please"? Just wondering.... from RC in Austin, Texas

"Sedate" is definitely the more appropriate term. I went to see a critically lauded new play at my local theatre here in Blighty the other night, and judging by the amount of audience members who stayed for the post-show talkback, and what everyone had to say at the post-show talkback, and what they were all saying to each other at the interval and end, and by what I myself thought, it was a brilliant production of an accomplished and thought-provoking play. But all the cast got at the end was lots of polite clapping. Very firm clapping at a suitably loud volume, but no standing ovation, no enthusiatic cheers, no cries of "bravo".

Our lack of wild noisy reaction does not indicate a lack of appreciation for the efforts on display. :3

Updated On: 6/9/07 at 12:48 PM

[raiosunshine]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 12:52pm

I can agree with Gavin Lee's comment on American audiences being louder. The audience for Drowsy on Broadway laughed a WHOLE LOT more than the one in London. I noticed the difference right away in the Man in Chair's intro up until Fancy Dress.

[postergirl]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 2:59pm

Gee Muscle 23, didn't you like the show?? Oh that's right you didn't, but you haven't mentioned that fact in a few days. Glad you got another chance to get it off your rippling chest.

[Tkt2Ride]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 3:39pm

I don't know,maybe it's the weather? We don't have any serious Queen Mother setting protocol here now do we? It is why shows like Benny Hill did so well in the past. Some call it civilized, I would say, go ahead, have some more fun with it!

Hopefully, the show will be able to reach out to those fun loving Brits, just give it some time. If you try to take Drowsy too seriously, you have lost it's whole concept of fun.

It was too much fun when I saw it and I could see why so many came back for, "a little bit more, please". Forget the critics, go for the fun. I hope those who really feel everything has to be like the Great Gatsby, move along while the rest of London has a little fun with it. It has some very funny characters and the whole concept of "the Man" is what makes it special. That and Drowsy too! What a Gal!

I call it a tribute to record loving fans who dress like Bob. I recall many of those who cherished their show albums, so it is a very nice tribute to them all. Maybe, they just need some more Champagne perhaps?

[allofmylife]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 4:12pm

Alan Jay Lerner refered to people who travel all the way out to New Haven to watch a new show flop as "Dear SH*Ts."

It seems to me the difference between Broadway and London - and I have long suspected this - that the "Dear SH*Ts" in London are mainly theatre critics and the "Dear SH*Ts" on Broadway all seem to be on this board.

I have watched for over a year now as some of the people here take any opportunity possible to dump on "Drowsy" and thi is yet anoother example. How about leading with the GOOD reviews (and there were several stellar ones) instead of the 2/5 star reviews.

How about mentioning that the audience loved the show - even for the tight-assed British. I remember opening night in London of 42nd Street. It was like a Wednesday matinee over here - with every cast member understudied. Just aboiut that level of applause. Yet after the show, everyone raved about it in the streets and bars.

Drowsy is a breath of fresh air and it gets the job done with a smile and a wink and not a single crapfest lyric like most of the songs in Wicked (a show for which I'm the biggest "Dear SH*T" of all, BTW).

Luckily, with American Airlines and British Airway block buying of tickets in London in advanvce, the show will probably run.

God, Elaine Freakin' Paige, who originated almost evrything as the Chaperone. THAT I want to see.

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 4:21pm

I agree that Broadway shows should stay out of London. It's a very different culture from ours. Plus, look at the British shows that have come over here of late-Coram Boy-which did not do too well. It's VERY expensive to run a show there and the theaters are huge compared to ours.
I also heard that Wicked is really not doing THAT well. (Better than some, but two English gentlemen I encountered last week told me it wasn't as big a hit there.)

Updated On: 6/9/07 at 04:21 PM

[bwaygal1]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 4:23pm

Updated On: 6/9/07 at 04:23 PM

[dented146]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 4:54pm

It's almost as if the reviewers don't want to enjoy it. The statement that they would prefer 10 minutes of Kern or Porter-the real thing-makes it seem like they they refuse to acknowledge the whole point of the show.

I'm not sure the west end critics will eat up Jersey Boys but it does have the huge advantage of not having to be compared to the type of musical the British might do.

[miss pennywise]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 7:15pm

Review Round-up: Did Drowsy Keep Critics Awake?
Date: 7th June 2007

Whilst one overnight critic thought it lacked “the pinpoint accuracy of true satire”, others agreed that The Drowsy Chaperone is amusingly “fresh” entertainment that only the “self-importantly serious and the chronically depressed” would fail to enjoy. Of the performances, critics welcomed back the “big chesty voice” of Paige, while also praising the “stellar” turn from Summer Strallen as the starlet and bride-to-be Janet Van de Graaff and show co-creator and original Broadway star Bob Martin as the Man in Chair.


Michael Coveney for Whatsonstage.com (three stars) – “The idea behind The Drowsy Chaperone, a mixed box of delights spoofing the 1920s musical comedy genre, is that you get to see the show of your dreams instead of the one you have to see most of the time. ‘Your’ – our – representative in this quest is Man in Chair, whose opening lament of ‘I hate theatre’ sums up the frustration… And then there is Elaine Paige as the eponymous chaperone to Janet, a dwarfish dipsomaniac with just one big overblown number, ‘As We Stumble Along’. Paige shows no qualms in sending herself up, and it is good to hear her big chesty voice emanating from her bird-like frame again. The music and lyrics of Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison are not good enough to make you forget Cole Porter and Jerome Kern, but they do have their moments in the manically relentless first act finale, ‘Toledo Surprise’, and a sweet little soft-shoe shuffle, ‘Love Is Always Lovely in the End’. Ah well, it’s all fairly enjoyable. But is it the ultimate musical comedy elixir? Dream on.”

Michael Billington in the Guardian (two stars) – “What exactly is the show sending up? All the action is seen through the eyes of the host, played by Bob Martin himself with the manic gleam of the musical buff and an epicene intensity that would make Kenneth Williams look butch. At one level, the show seems to be mocking the loneliness of the long-playing collector. At the same time, it implies the kind of musicals such aficionados worship had a nonsensical charm signally absent from Les Mis and Miss Saigon… The real problem, however, is that the show never knows exactly where to pitch its camp… It also lacks the pinpoint accuracy of true satire: many of its gags, especially the notion of hoodlums translated into song-and-dance men, belong more to the 1930s than the previous decade… But, for all the energy of Casey Nicholaw's production, I would readily sacrifice the whole of this glitzy charade for ten minutes of the real thing by Rodgers and Hart, Cole Porter or Jerome Kern.”

Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph - “I loved The Drowsy Chaperone when I saw it on Broadway last year, but wondered whether it was just too frothy and insubstantial to please an English audience. To judge by the rapture of the first night audience at the Novello, I was wrong. Better yet, I enjoyed it even more the second time around, for beyond its inanity, it is also curious touching… Casey Nicholaw directs with exactly the right light touch, and his dance routines are an effervescent joy, while Bob Martin, who also co-wrote the book with Don McKellar, beautifully balances wit and pathos as the narrator. Among the cast, the delightful Summer Strallen makes an enchanting heroine with legs that go on forever… Only the self-importantly serious and the chronically depressed will fail to enjoy this preposterously entertaining evening.”

Sam Marlowe in The Times (four stars) –“Those with a taste for melodic, feelgood nostalgia will find plenty to feast upon in this musical’s breezy, interval-free 100 minutes. But it offers more than that. It’s deceptive: it may look and sound deliciously daft, but beneath the razz-matazz and romance, the slapstick and the sentiment, it’s extremely smart ... Paige is enjoyably bug-eyed, inebriated and imperious – and doesn’t flinch from sending herself up. In a sly allusion to Paige’s own reputation, Man in Chair informs us that the actress who played the chaperone was ‘notoriously difficult’; and she spends her big number, ‘As We Stumble Along’, gleefully upstaging the bride-to-be… The stellar performance, though, comes from Summer Strallen as Janet – fabulously leggy, divinely graceful and irresistibly funny… However clever and appealing it is, this musical is an airy confection without much substance. But then, it never pretends otherwise. ‘I just wanna be entertained,’ says Man in Chair. ‘Isn’t that the point?’ Where this show is concerned, absolutely.

Nicholas de Jongh in the Evening Standard (three stars) - “It's a rare evening when a musical makes me laugh out loud and often but it happened last night. The Drowsy Chaperone, whose alluring title signals its distinctive character, surprises and delights, thanks to its central conceit… Elaine Paige's drowsy-through-alcohol chaperone, more interested in snaring an Italian ladies' man than protecting her charge, sings her one big number, ‘As We Stumble Along’, with real gusto. The performances in director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw's production tend to exuberant caricature. Miss Paige makes a broad, even grotesque drunk and she burlesques her star-actress-as-scene-stealer role. It's an enjoyably fresh show, but is there an audience for a musical spoofing the genre?”

Paul Callan in the Daily Express - The show “brings back the wonderful Elaine Paige to the London stage in the show-stopping title role. She brings enormous style to her boozy character, particularly in the touching number ‘As We Stumble Along’. Summer Strallen has a sugar-sweet quality in her stylish pastiche of the ingenue role of Janet Van de Graaff. Her singing is charming to which she adds a deft touch for comic timing ... But the stunning performance of the evening is surely that of Bob Martin, the show's guide who takes us through his love of this parody musical. From the very start, he achieves a splendid intimacy with the audience, even a warmth and a friendship … My only reservation is that, although the show is under two hours, it would still have been a good idea to have an interval - despite what Bob Martin says. That apart, The Drowsy Chaperone is a frolicking great show of immense colour and pace - and a must to see.”

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 8:12pm

OK this thread has been getting me more and more annoyed so i had to jump in.

Im a brit here in the UK and that whole "maybe broadway shows should avoid london all together" is stupid.

HAVE YOU SEEN THE WEST END??? Most of the shows we have are american transfers!!

Drowsy has had some very good reviews here but has crept up very quietly so they were no buzz about the show.The show probably wont last but thats not because us brits don't like it its just the show has not really been publicized.
Also Americans seemed to treat Drowsy like the second coming when in reality its a good show but not the best.

Wicked got bad reviews yes, but it didn't exactly get glowing reviews on broadway.The simple fact is that wicked even though a lot of fun isn't a great show and british audiences aren't won over anymore buy lavish sets etc(that ended in the 80s we leave the big spectacles to you guys now).

Lion King, Chicago, Spamalot,Little Shop Of Horrors, Cabaret to name but a few or all playing in London and doing well.

Footloose was well received here for what it was (a fun teen show) Hairspray will probably do well,Producers got fantastic reviews etc.
So stop trying to make out that Broadway shows don't transfer well here it is bloody stupid.

As for how loud audiences are in the UK, well ive worked in shows like Fame etc and the audience have been screaming and they are mega loud in Wicked but in general Americans tend to be a bit more OTT in volume and that reflects in the theatre.

If british audiences have loved a show that will stand up and cheer , in young fun shows like Fame, Footloose, Dirty Dancing, Mamma Mia they will get up and Dance etc but they wont be loud for the sake of been loud, we will scream out loud and cheer if the show deserves it.

And as for Benny Hill ARE YOU DRUNK!!! maybe in the 70s people liked him.

And the whole The 2 cultures are very different , well not really, hence why American tv studios keep picking up all our TV shows and remaking them, we are very similar

This whole Stiff Upper Lip thing Americans think best represent the UK is so stupid and old, That refers to the few posh blokes who live out in the country, we happen to have some of the coolest city's in the world(please stop watching period dramas and thinking thats how we are).

The whole thing about "it seems like the critics dont want to enjoy it" erm well they ain't gonna lie, if they like it they will say, if they don't they don't, plus the critics here really don't have much influence over the theatre audiences (critics have not taken to Fame but that show has been around 11 years) , UK audiences would rather make up there own mind other than listen to 1 person.

Plus drowsy has had some great reviews here , what did people want them to say?? its the best show in decades? well its not, Its the best US transfer we have had in ages? well its not, Its a good show whats very enjoyable but has some flaws? well it does and they did.

end of rant

[courtnyj]

Posted: 6/9/07 at 8:23pm

Honestly, I've only seen four shows on the West End (all this week ) but I have noticed marked differences in audience reactions. It depends upon the type of show and the type of audience. When I saw Drowsy, for example, people roared with laughter and cheer loudly during the curtain call, but only a few gave it a standing ovation. I suspect that the audience was filled with theatre savvy people who are (like me) ovation wary and reluctant to stand. At We Will Rock You (a show I didn't particulary enjoy) the audience lept to their feet at the end. It was a differnet kind of audience...the kind who want to give a standing ovation at the end of practically every show they see just to justify spending so much money for their tickets. If that makes any sense....probably not since it's 1:20am here and my communication skills are rapidly deteriorating...

[lotiloti]

Posted: 6/10/07 at 3:37am

The problem with Broadway in London,is simple.It's invariably over hyped.As with Spamalot,Producers and the truly appalling Wicked,they turn out to be 'safe' fluff.When are we going to get something with some balls!

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 6/11/07 at 6:47am

Like Songanddanceman I'm a bit confused as to why Broadway shows should avoid London. You have to remember that, unlike Broadway of old, newspaper reviews over here have never been enough to close a show so to place any kind of importance on the dribblings of old men who don't even like musical theatre is misguided. Drowsy got a fair reaction when I saw it - not particularly over-the-top, but then large-scale emotional incontinence has thankfully yet to make it's way over here. Any appreciation shown is often understated but genuine.

The days when musicals could run forever are over, but recent transfers including The Producers (hit), Wicked (hit), Spamalot (hit) and Avenue Q (hit) have had (or are having) respectable runs. As for plays, well, google the phrase "selling coal to Newcastle"...