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NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

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#1

NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 1/31/09 at 5:54pm

"The critically-acclaimed Old Vic revival of Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests will open on Broadway in April at Circle in the Square. The entire London cast will make the trip, according to lead producer Sonia Friedman.

That means New York audiences will get the chance to see Stephen Mangan (Norman), Amelia Bullmore (Ruth), Paul Ritter (Reg), Amanda Root (Sarah), Jessica Hynes (Annie), and Ben Miles Tom). London Theatre News reviewer Clive Hirschhorn called their performances flawless."

http://theaternewsonline.com/LATESTNEWYORKNEWS/HERECOMESNORMAN.cfm

I wonder if they'll have special pricing for the days when they perform the 3-play marathon.
#4

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 1/31/09 at 6:10pm

I read the cast list so quickly that I thought it said "Stephen Root" and I got a bit excited. Regardless of my inability to read properly I'm still looking forward to seeing this.
#7

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:36pm

I can't believe this - literally, I spent the entire afternoon today watching the three plays from the 70's on DVD as done on Thames Television (and PBS)- Tom Conti et al.

Great news!
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Updated On: 1/31/09 at 08:36 PM

#8

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 1/31/09 at 9:40pm

Wow, that came out of nowhere.

That having been said: YAY!
"Y'know, I think Bertolt Brecht was rolling in his grave."
-Nellie McKay on the 2006 Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera, in which she played Polly Peachum
#9

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/1/09 at 12:19am

Not really, I think Reidel mentioned it a couple months ago, but I'm excited! It sounds like a really interested idea, and plus I get to finally see a show at the Circle!
#10

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/1/09 at 1:01am

Ah, so cool! I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard in the theatre as when I saw "Living Together" in October. Ben Miles especially is wonderful as Tom.
"My name's Lenny. What's yours?"

#11

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/1/09 at 7:28am

I'm just thrilled that something will be playing the Circle again. It's such a unique Broadway space in a pretty great location.
"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad

"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
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#12

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/2/09 at 4:14pm

Question: When they did "Coast of Utopia" marathon days, how much of a price difference was it from just seeing one of the other shows? I want to see "The Norman Conquests" on one of the marathon Saturdays because I think it'd be a fun event, but just curious to know the difference in pricing.
#14

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/3/09 at 8:02pm

Rentboy, the price for the marathon of The Coast of Utopia was the same as it would have been if you bought tickets to three separate performances. It was $300 for orchestra and front loge and 195 for the back of the loge, iirc.
#15

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/3/09 at 8:23pm

My one question is this. Would it be better to go to each play on its own, or to go to one of the marathon performances?
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
#17

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/4/09 at 1:15am

Umph! That's quite a chunk of change, but I do have till April to save up, so that's not too bad.

I wonder if the show will sell well or not, and if it doesn't, if they'll offer some sort of student pricing for the marathon days, but me thinks it's going to be a "hot ticket."
#18

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/4/09 at 1:19am

Eh, it's hard to figure out what will be a hot ticket and what won't be these days. The producers of Equus thought that it would be a hot ticket considering who was staring in it. That was one of the reasons, at least I think, that the prices were set the way they were. Of course, they were wrong at it wasn't as popular as they thought that it would be.
"If you try to shag my husband while I am still alive, I will shove the art of motorcycle maintenance up your rancid little Cu**. That's a good dear" Tom Stoppard's Rock N Roll
#19

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/4/09 at 1:21am

True, but this just seems like something that would take off. It's sorta lesser known, and it'll probably get good reviews, and it's sort of an 'event.'
#20

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/4/09 at 2:36am

My advice is to go see one and see what you think. That's what I did in London - I saw Table Manners - and I passed on the other two. It's not like the characters are so complex and interesting that you need to find out more. It just felt so stale and frankly, unfunny. A sit-com.
Faced with these Loreleis, what man can moralize!
#21

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/4/09 at 6:35am

With Ayckbourn, the other plays are always illuminating. With House and Garden a few years ago, the two plays gave you very different sides of the same characters. A character who was rather sedate in House would cut loose in Garden or vice versa. And RentBoy, as you've begun to appreciate Chekhov, I think you might find elements of him in Ayckbourn. Underneath Ayckbourn's comedy, there are feelings of sadness, loneliness, desperation. As funny as his plays are, in my opinion, they are usually rooted in characters being thwarted by their own desires, which I think makes them recognizably human, and not just farcical stick figures.

NY critics tend to love Ayckbourn so I think Norman Conquests will fare as well with them as it did with the London press.
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.

Updated On: 2/4/09 at 06:35 AM

#22

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/4/09 at 8:33am

When do you think tickets will go on sale, especially on Broadwaybox.com for discount tickets? I am ready to see any of the 3 plays, having seen all 3 on PBS decades ago. I am a fan of Ayckbourn, and have seen several of his plays both in NYC and in London, where I found myself laughing in an audience that was mostly unresponsive. I agree with Smaxie's views of Ayckbourn's undercurrent of emotions. His plays are far more than sit-coms.
"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"
#23

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/4/09 at 2:18pm

Aren't all three plays supposed to be quite different in style and tone - meaning you can't judge all three by simply seeing one?

I've always found Ayckbourn to be a long way from sitcom - nowhere near as laugh-out-loud funny (when compared to good sitcoms) and with much darker undercurrents.

My first site of naked adults (as far as I can remember) was when my parents took me to see Way Upstream - as well as the nudity I recall this play being sinister and threatening -nothing like the sitcoms I would have been watching on TV at that time such as The Good Life (Good Neighbours).
#25

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

Posted: 2/5/09 at 11:51am

The stunning Old Vic Theatre in London and how it looked when reconfigured for 'The Norman Conquests'.

re: NORMAN CONQUESTS to open at the Circle in April

The plays lend themselves, especially in this production, to theatre in the round, it was how they were first written anyway!

Richard Dreyfuss in the new West End disaster (his 2nd in a row) 'Complicit' is using the same in the round set up.

'The Norman Conquests' is due back in the West End at the beginning of 2010 so I would imagine New York is a limited season.

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