Posted: 7/14/23 at 8:55am
But well known directors and Tony-award winning stars routinely are part of out-of-town tryouts in the US in smaller cities like Seattle. This is just the UK version.
Posted: 7/14/23 at 8:58am
Yes but this is the UK, not the US. That's the whole point. To have essentially some of the world's greatest artists come to this city from the US is a real privilege for the UK and not something that I believe happens often (I guess Crazy For You! did have Susan Stroman in Chichester - though Chichester seems to often do out of town tryouts for the UK).
Updated On: 7/14/23 at 08:58 AM
Posted: 7/14/23 at 9:46am
Could just be the theater itself trying to become more of a pre-West End theater. Much like The Chicago Shakespeare doing "The Notebook." Never had it been a place for pre-Broadway before, but that seems to be the way they're heading.
He looks the part, but I never got that he was particularly known for his vocals, but maybe he can get into the Sinatra vocals. Guess we'll see.
Posted: 7/14/23 at 10:36am
This sounds like one of Tina's schemes because I don't see Nancy's name mentioned anywhere. They don't often see eye to eye. One also wonders if Mr. Doyle will still star if it ventures across the pond.
Posted: 7/14/23 at 10:55am
binau said: "Yes but this is the UK, not the US. That's the whole point. To have essentially some of the world's greatest artists come to this city from the US is a real privilege for the UK and not something that I believe happens often (I guess Crazy For You! did have Susan Stroman in Chichester - though Chichester seems to often do out of town tryouts for the UK)."
And I was making the point that for an actor to make this choice isn't as unusual as you seem to need it to be. They do it in the US. This time it just happens to be in the UK. Bottom line though? What does it matter
Posted: 7/15/23 at 3:08am
It doesn’t. I literally just expressed my surprise and for some reason people seem to want to challenge that. Look, all I’ll say is if you live in NYC imagine if Sam Mendes decides to direct a play with Helen Mirren in Buffalo. That would probably be an interesting surprise to you. Obviously I’m exaggerating all of the parameters for effect in this analogy but it feels very strange to me that people are trying to challenge my surprise lol. I am surprised. It’s ok if you’re not lol. And I actually live in the UK and follow theatre reasonably closely so I feel I have a good sense of what is usual and what is not in the region. 'Bermi-G-ham*' is not where I expect some great musical theatre artists from NYC to turn up often.
Can you therefore see that it feels a bit weirdly US centric for someone to turn around and say “but you shouldn’t be surprised we have out of town tryouts in America all the time”. Well, cool? Lol.
* (How it might be made fun of by pretentious Londoners due to the accents in the region)
Updated On: 7/15/23 at 03:08 AM
Posted: 7/15/23 at 10:50am
FWIW, I wasnt questioning your suprise...I just had no idea how seldom Birmingham was ever involved in world premieres. In the States, no one is surprised by Boston, Chicago,or DC (among other places) getting these, but we would be if, well, Birmingham, Alabama did.
Posted: 7/15/23 at 12:42pm
Birmingham is the second largest city in the UK (just beating Manchester), but Manchester is far better for theatre and has hosted several out of town try outs. Surprised they are going to Birmingham first.
