Posted: 1/2/23 at 3:49pm
Another National Anthem would have been rousing, and I'd have loved to have seen Bernadette do Gun Song. Oh, well. I don't mean to complain. I liked how the 80th concert included some more of the obscure stuff, it would have been nice to see that happen again.
Posted: 1/2/23 at 4:32pm
Why has there been no American memorial concert given like this London one? Will there be one at all? This cast was really second rate apart from Bernadette, Julia, Maria and I guess Ball.
Posted: 1/2/23 at 4:40pm
I can't agree. Are you talking talent or how well known they are?
I liked very much Anna Jane Casey's Not Getting Married Today, even though I don't know anything about her. The accent really fit, even with the Americanisms in the lyrics. Then of course there was Judi Dench, Petula Clark, Julian Ovenden...
Posted: 1/2/23 at 5:09pm
I thought Damien Lewis was kinda dreadful. Not sure why he was there as I can’t find any info of him ever doing Sondheim or any musical theatre at all.
Michael Ball’s Could I Leave You felt like someone’s first time trying the song at an audition, with how unfocused and flail-y he was. But maybe there wasn’t much rehearsal time given since there were choreographed numbers to deal with.
Cameron shoving that ALW/SS piano video into the evening was embarrassing and just proves that his ego knows no bounds. Also, is he developing a speech impediment? Or has he lost some front teeth? That was a new sound.
They really made Bernadette work, and I thought her voice was about as great as anyone can expect at her age.
Haydn Gwynne was wonderful. Jeremy Secombe sang Judge Turpin beautifully.
Spare a thought for the editor of the broadcast, for as choppy and nonsensical as some of the cuts were, I think they were dealing as best as possible with what they had. I saw a few mis-steps and “not quite together” choreography mistakes which probably couldn’t be hidden and makes me think the rehearsal time they did have was probably not enough.
Overall a well-sung evening despite a few egregious lyric mistakes - imagine if the man himself had been present - but to wrap up before the end of “Our Time” was a bummer.
Updated On: 1/2/23 at 05:09 PM
Posted: 1/2/23 at 5:14pm
BorisTomashevsky said: "I thought Damien Lewis was kinda dreadful. Not sure why he was there as I can’t find any info of him ever doing Sondheim or any musical theatre at all.
Guess you didn't look very hard -- he was The Wolf/Cinderella's Prince at The Donmar Warehouse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Lewis#Stage
Posted: 1/2/23 at 5:22pm
JSquared2 said: "BorisTomashevsky said: "I thought Damien Lewis was kinda dreadful. Not sure why he was there as I can’t find any info of him ever doing Sondheim or any musical theatre at all.
Guess you didn't look very hard -- he was The Wolf/Cinderella's Prince at The Donmar Warehouse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damian_Lewis#Stage
"
Thanks, I read the Wiki paragraphs where it isn’t mentioned, but didn’t check that list.
Updated On: 1/2/23 at 05:22 PM
Posted: 1/3/23 at 5:06am
Watched this tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it! Losing My Mind, Not a Day Goes By, Everything's Coming up Roses, and Send in the Clowns were easily the highlights for me. That being said, there were definitely some strange choices.
The set list was pretty lacking. There was a lot of good stuff in there, but WAY to much Follies, Sweeney, Into the Woods, and Company (which I admit despite it being my favorite Sondheim show). 23 of the songs came from just those four shows. I know they're some of his most popular and best work, but I can easily pick 1-3 songs from each that should have been cut in favor of at least something from Evening Primrose, Assassins, and Anyone Can Whistle. TBH, I don't mind the exclusion of his other shows (I'm really not as familiar with them), but there was really no room for Take Me to the World, Everybody Says Don't, and Unworthy of Your Love?
Then there was the strange usage of the cast. My guess is that some of them were just able to commit a lot less rehearsal and prep time, so there was a reliance on those who could (Bernadette, Michael Ball, Sonia Friedman). That's totally understandable, but what they did with the limited time they had with some of the performers was so strange. They nailed some of them. If I get one song from each of Judi Dench and Imelda Staunton, there's nothing else I'd rather see than Judi do Clowns and Imelda do one of Rose's numbers. But to have Helena Bonham Carter and have her ONLY appear in Broadway Baby was so strange to me. I don't know what the situation was with that (maybe it really was all she could do), but having an international mega-star like Helena Bonham Carter and having her only appear for a minute as part of an ensemble and then in the finale was so weird. It felt like maybe there was something cut for time for the broadcast or something like that!
Posted: 1/3/23 at 5:20am
wonderful concert. I hope they do one in New York. Did they film this at the theatre where Les Miz is playing? The set looks like it's from Les Miz and many cast members are from the production I think
Posted: 1/3/23 at 5:39am
sng said: "wonderful concert. I hope they do one in New York. Did they film this at the theatre where Les Miz is playing? The set looks like it's from Les Miz and many cast members are from the production I think"
they did – it's the Sondheim Theatre
Updated On: 1/3/23 at 05:39 AM
Posted: 1/3/23 at 4:06pm
Where did the Greta Garbo line in I'm Still Here come from?
Posted: 1/3/23 at 5:37pm
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Assassins is kind of a "downer" and most of those numbers might not do well out of context..."
“Unworthy of Your Love” works just fine out of context if you ignore the names of the people they’re actually singing about. It’s actually one of my favorite Sondheim songs. In Putting it Together they just replaced the names with “darling” and it worked well enough.
Posted: 1/3/23 at 9:56pm
Judi Dench was heartbreakingly good with Send in the Clowns. Haydn Gwynne’s Ladies who Lunch was excellent. I also loved I’m Still Here by Petula Clarke. This was a great concert. Excellent camera work.
Posted: 1/3/23 at 11:31pm
Melissa25 said: "Judi Dench was heartbreakingly good with Send in the Clowns. Haydn Gwynne’s Ladies who Lunch was excellent. I also loved I’m Still Here by Petula Clarke. This was a great concert. Excellent camera work."
Judi Dench's rendition of that song nearly killed me emotionally!
Posted: 1/5/23 at 10:22am
Damien Lewis was the Prince/Wolf in the Donmar Into the Woods
and yes Cam Mac, and that ego. Very much a know thing in London theatre circles but he’s getting shameless publicly
Posted: 3/22/23 at 4:48pm
A LIVE album is coming soon!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CqGtNW5oyZX/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
Posted: 3/22/23 at 4:53pm
Nice!
Random comment, I wonder if Bernadette will get to sing "Send in the Clowns" or any of the Sweeney material now that the cast changes on the West End. I think I would die and go to heaven if I hear Bernadette do 'Worst Pies', My Friends' and 'Priest' (if I recall what they did).
Posted: 3/22/23 at 5:09pm
My guess is that the Sweeney stuff will go to Lea Salonga since she did the show and this concert seemed to have people perform numbers associated with things they’ve done in the past.
Posted: 3/22/23 at 6:07pm
So Bernadette will definitely be doing songs from Sunday and ITW for sure!
