Is Margo in London ? Seen SITPWG yet ?

[leeinlondon]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 8:28am

Title says it all !!

Margo are you here in London at the moment and have you seen Sunday in the Park with George yet ?

Did you have good seats ?

Did you like it ?


What else are you seeing ?



Updated On: 8/31/06 at 08:28 AM

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 8:34am

"Is Margo is London?"

Do you mean "Is Margo in London"?

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 8:36am

Margo, are you in London? I just got back. It was fabulous. Go see the new Tom Stoppard, you'll love it.

Also, go see "The Last 5 Years" at the chocolate factory. I didn't have enough time to see it, but I'm dying for a review. They have ten pound matinees on Saturday at 4:00 P.M.

Updated On: 8/31/06 at 08:36 AM

[ChrisLovesShows]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 9:06am

Well, in many ways Margo IS London, but I guess we want to know, at this point, if he is in London. So it's all good.

Updated On: 8/31/06 at 09:06 AM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 12:28pm

Yes, Margo is in London -- a bit dizzy, hayfeverish and jetlagged, but here nonetheless.

Thanks for asking

Just got out of FROST/NIXON at the Donmar, got lost on the way back to the hotel, saw this internet cafe and decided to get a coffee and check my email. Still have no idea where I am (probably not far from Covent Garden).

Anyway, FROST/NIXON stars Frank Langella and Michael Sheen. A very smart and riveting drama surrounding the famous David Frost interviews of the disgraced President in the late 70s. First rate performances all around. Fluid direction. Should end up in NYC at some point.

Yesterday, I saw Stoppard's ROCK N ROLL which has to rank as one of his better plays (high praise indeed). A fascinating rumination on waning days of communism (1968 to 1990) in Czechoslavakia and the influence that capitalism had -- here symbolized in the form of the growing popularity of rock n' roll music even amongst the remaining dissidents and left wing intelligensia -- in its demise. Rufus Sewell and Sinead Cusack are both remarkable.

I saw EVITA last night. Elena Roger was out and replaced by her standby Abbie Osman who was solid vocally, but has a rather placid stage presence, lacking the passion and fire the role demands. Rowle as Che was better, Quast failed to impress as Peron and the young lady playing the Mistress was quite bland vocally. Michael Grandage's staging was fluid and efficient (nice ensemble work), but I must admit I missed the theatricality of the Prince original. Overall, an uninspiring by-the-numbers take on the piece (though the score holds up well), rather like something you'd expect at a decent regional house somewhere, without the verve and electricity the show can potentially generate. Perhaps, Roger would have helped, but all in all I expect more from a major West End revival. Incidentally, I take it this isn't doing particularly well box office-wise -- the stalls (orchestra section in the US) were maybe 80% full with at least a half dozen rows completely empty.

Anyway, off to Billy Elliot tonight. I don't see SITPWG until the closing night performance Saturday. I'll try to do another update soon if I run across another internet cafe (maybe this one if I ever figure out where the hell I am).

Hope all is well.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 12:38pm

thanks for the reviews!
enjoy BILLY ELLIOT
and are you seeing LAST 5 YEARS also?
anyways, have fun
:)

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 12:40pm

I'm disappointed you weren't able to see Elena Roger; she was essentially the only thing I really loved about the new production of EVITA, and I was really curious to hear your thoughts on her performance. Ah well.

Glad to hear your reports on FROST/NIXON and ROCK N'ROLL.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 1:00pm

Welcome to London Margo! (I'll dust of the red carpet!)

SITWPG should be a fantastic way to end the week! Have a great time!

(Yikes- exclamation mark overload!)

[midtowngym]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 1:41pm

So it's true. I heard Margo was last seen boozily walking down Old Compton Street questioning (to no one in particular)--'Where are the stalls'? Did she mean toilets or theatre seats?

Updated On: 8/31/06 at 01:41 PM

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 7:16pm

Margo--I look forward to your "Billy Elliot" review.

[joshy]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 7:42pm

I completely agree with your thoughts on Evita, Margo. I enjoyed it mostly, but found it pretty underwhelming. Elena Roger definitely has real 'star quality' and elevated the production, I felt. It's a shame you didn't see her.

You are very lucky to be going to the closing performance of SITPWG! That will be something special. Looking forward to a full report as I can't get to it - I've seen this production three times and I still long to see it again.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 8/31/06 at 8:03pm

Be sure to post a review for Billy Elliot and SITPWG!!!

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 9/1/06 at 12:51am

Wow, Margo. Glad you're in London, and happy that we agree on the new Tom Stoppard.

I'm a bit flummoxed by your views on Evita. Especially per say Quast, whom I found outstanding. Do you really prefer Bob Gunton's bizarre and random accent in that role? Why?

I saw SITPWG and Evita on the same day, and it was a fascinating exercise. The SITPWG staging, while enhanced with the computer stuff, was the exact same staging that James Lapine did on Broadway. The new Evita was competely different. I'm not knocking Prince's staging, it's one of the best ever. But I found the new staging utterly riveting. The only two things I missed from the Prince staging were the opening (while dramatic, I felt it rather emasculated Che), and the Ascot Gavotte number. There were many moments, like the revised "musical chairs" sequence, the waltz, and Buenos Aires, which kicked the original's you know what, in my opinion.

Doll, I'm not questioning your taste. But we generally agree on everything (i.e., Grey Gardens), and we're differing here. I'd love to hear more info.
Updated On: 9/1/06 at 12:51 AM

[colored by esteem]

Posted: 9/1/06 at 1:49am

Have fun Margo!

[mallardo]

Posted: 9/1/06 at 2:52pm

What you HAVE to see in London is Simon Russell Beale as Galileo in the Brecht play currently running at the National Theatre. Another amazing performance from this great great actor!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 4:32pm

Hello everyone. Had a very nice time and saw some very good theatre.

Brecht's THE LIFE OF GALILEO at the National with the extraordinary Simon Russell Beale was the highlight of the trip and probably one of the best productions I've ever seen. Such a brilliant piece of writing (playwright David Hare did a great job with the adaptation) dealing with questions of faith vs. reason, God vs. scientific fact and man's place in the universe if there is no higher power. The play concerns Galileo's many struggles and trevails with the religious authority of the time (the early 17th century) which brands him as a heretic for his discoveries in astronomy. "If the earth revolves around the sun, rather than the other way around, then where is heaven?" they ask. Galileo has no answer -- he only knows the truth, a truth they don't want him to speak and they use their formidable power to censor him and threaten his life, livelihood and work. How he deals with this over a 30 year period and the moral implications it raises -- does he stand up for the truth and suffer the consequences which may include death or does he conform to their wishes and betray his work and his responsibilities to science and his fellow man? -- are the subject of this powerful and thought-provoking epic play.


The cast, direction and design were all flawless. Beale, especially, was a marvel. This is a mammoth role (he's on stage for much of the 3 hour, 15 minute running time) and it places daunting demands on the actor which Beale managed superbly. It was amazing to watch him go from the wily devilish figure who ravenously relished tearing into the searing intellectual/religious debates in the play's first half to the resigned, chastened, bitter tragic blind old man he eventually became at play's end. Truly a performance and a play for the ages.


The revival of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE was beautifully rendered -- intimate and textured and emotional. It topped the OBC in many ways -- Daniel Evans's George was heartfelt and conflicted without any of Patinkin's mannerisms or distractions; Jenna Russell captured Dot's purity and vulnerability superbly. The use of digital animated projections for the dogs, second soldier, the chromolume scene and for the Georges in "Putting It Together" was very clever, witty and inventive. Happily, the reduced orchestrations sounded surprisingly full and rich. And the audience response was effusive even for a closing night performance -- 6 curtain calls. I'd love it if somehow Evans and Russell could come over for the proposed Broadway production -- each was superb, though obviously they have no name recognition on this side of the Atlantic. With or without them, though, I look forward to seeing this production again.


SEE HOW THEY RUN -- a revival of a classic British farce from the 40s -- was hilarious and directed with the precision of a Swiss watch. I admired the timing and level of detail in the direction and the performances (it struck me that the Brits simply do farce better than we do, in the main). The plot is too convoluted to try to relate here, but basically it deals with the endless confusions which arise involving a country vicar and his wife, an old friend of hers who's stationed at a local army base who borrows one of the vicar's outfits so he can take the wife into town for an evening out, the wife's father who's the bishop of the parish, a travelling vicar who's come to stay at the vicar's house for the evening and an escaped German soldier who's on the lam and also borrows one of the the vicar's outfits as a disguise. Terribly silly, yes, but absolutely hilarious.


I really enjoyed BILLY ELLIOT which was seemlessly staged by Stephen Daldry and featured beautiful, at times poetic and always energetic choreography from Peter Darling. Elton John's score (with book and lyrics by the original screenwriter Lee Hall) is easily the best he's written for the theatre with several standout numbers. Hall's book manages to not only capture the sweet and very human story of a young working class boy (played at the performance I saw by the gifted Leon Cooke) who wants to dance, but all of the pressures that a mining strike puts on his family and the entire community around him. The choreography employs everything from ballet to tap to jazz and is thrilling to witness. Not sure why some people think Americans would have difficulty grasping the subject matter. While there's the odd colloquialism here and there, it's a simple, universal story, really, and it should resonate as much with audiences here as it does in the UK. This should be a major hit when it gets here next year.


I also saw a very solid production of TITUS ANDRONICUS at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The staging was fairly traditional and the acting was quite good all around, notably from Douglas Hodge who took on the title role.


It was quite a fun trip and I'd love to get back again sometime soon.

Updated On: 9/5/06 at 04:32 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 9/5/06 at 4:43pm

Glad to hear your thoughts! Agree completely about SUNDAY and BILLY ELLIOT.