#51
Posted: 7/22/09 at 2:09pm
I know!!! Press night is tonight isn't it???
Bring them on
.
Bring them on
.
OOUCH! Mammas Got 3rd Degree Burns — Page 3
#52
Posted: 7/22/09 at 3:09pm
Poor Helen Dallimore- from Wicked to this
#53
Posted: 7/22/09 at 3:30pm
Dev, I was watching her and thinking the exact same thing- it was almost written across her face!
#54
Posted: 7/22/09 at 3:51pm
I have read she is the highlight of the show and makes AWFUL songs, the best they could be.... Is this true, cause her alone will make me wanna see this!
#57
Posted: 7/22/09 at 3:59pm
WOW!
LOL
That is the perfect review for this show.
LOL
That is the perfect review for this show.
#58
Posted: 7/22/09 at 3:59pm
This is gonna be rent remixed isnt it... Im gonna go, fall in love, and see it 13 times in the short amount of weeks it is running!
#59
Posted: 7/22/09 at 4:01pm
'Rent Remixed' is Ibsen compared to this.
GO GO GO !
**Internet Reviews**
'The description that Hemmingway 'who finds solace with his secretary' is a bit incorrect, there is no finding solace in this show. No one is attracted or attractive, and its a bit like looking into a car crash about to happen. Unfortunately it does happen, right there on the stage of the comedy. And the fact that its in the theatre the Comedy Theatre makes me think someone is getting a laugh over someone on this. Last night at the premier, I sat in the sixth row in the centre. Before the intermission all five rows in front of me were full. After intermission....they were completely empty....I must be masochistic...!!!'
- Wayne, London
Key line of the play comes just a little into the second act when 'Ernesto' loudly proclaims. 'Enough of this bull****.' That should have been our cue to leave but,unlike a high percentage of the audience,including a handful of laptop carrying critics at the back,we soldiered on to the bitter end.As a straight play,it might just have worked and we would have just been bored to death but the singing (and I use the word liberally in the case of one of the characters) ensured that we were subjected to slow,unremitting torture which would not have been out of place in Guantanamo or Abu Graib. The songs were totally out of place ,most were far too long and they almost all sounded the same.When Hemingway,after what seemed like an eternity,lifted the shotgun to his mouth,he should have re-directed it towards the composer.At least we'd have had a happy ending.
- Mike, London
GO GO GO !
**Internet Reviews**
'The description that Hemmingway 'who finds solace with his secretary' is a bit incorrect, there is no finding solace in this show. No one is attracted or attractive, and its a bit like looking into a car crash about to happen. Unfortunately it does happen, right there on the stage of the comedy. And the fact that its in the theatre the Comedy Theatre makes me think someone is getting a laugh over someone on this. Last night at the premier, I sat in the sixth row in the centre. Before the intermission all five rows in front of me were full. After intermission....they were completely empty....I must be masochistic...!!!'
- Wayne, London
Key line of the play comes just a little into the second act when 'Ernesto' loudly proclaims. 'Enough of this bull****.' That should have been our cue to leave but,unlike a high percentage of the audience,including a handful of laptop carrying critics at the back,we soldiered on to the bitter end.As a straight play,it might just have worked and we would have just been bored to death but the singing (and I use the word liberally in the case of one of the characters) ensured that we were subjected to slow,unremitting torture which would not have been out of place in Guantanamo or Abu Graib. The songs were totally out of place ,most were far too long and they almost all sounded the same.When Hemingway,after what seemed like an eternity,lifted the shotgun to his mouth,he should have re-directed it towards the composer.At least we'd have had a happy ending.
- Mike, London
Updated On: 7/22/09 at 04:01 PM
#60
Posted: 7/22/09 at 6:53pm
Just got back from seeing it tonight and I can honestly say that in 30 years of theatre-going I have never been so jealous of an onstage character than the moment when Ernest Hemingway places the shotgun in his mouth and prepares to blow his brains out.
In fact if they want the show to run they should start stunt casting and invite a whole load of minor celebrities to play the part of Hemingway and then get them to actually blow their brains out on stage; it's the only way this thing will sell (and in fairness to the paying public they should begin this gimmick by forcing the creative to team to play the role intially before they then move on to Kerry Katona - it's the only way I'll go back into the Comedy Theatre for the next four days or however long it plays)
I didn't get a programme so I'm not sure who is actually playing Hemmingway but I do know that somewhere Timothy West is missing a particularly bad understudy.
Helen Dallimore (who did nothing for me in Wicked) is as welcome as a dose of Tamiflu but I suppose the rest of the cast deserve a slight credit for remembering most of their lines and not bumping into most of the furniture.
I'm sure things will come back to haunt me but at present the only lowlights I can remember are a song that begins ' oh that pirate girl', Helen Dallimore singing a song of regret about how wonderful her life used to be (with the subtext; when I was at the Apollo Victoria) and that the title song Too Close to the SUN is inspired by a scene in the middle of the NIGHT.
Oh and in the first half there are only solo 'songs' and not one of them moves the 'story' forward - when it's just the script you think hurry up to a song, the moment a 'song' begins you begin to realise what Alzheimers must be like as another instantly forgettable lyrics jars with another instantly forgettable 'melody' and you start thinking lets hurry up back to the script (and then repeat as unneccessary)
But in Act Two (yes I stayed for the whole thing as the fully paid up member of Opus Dei that I am) the 'composer' discovers duets and you wish that he hadn't..
But as a major word of caution this is no Behind the Iron Mask (which was so hilariously bad I saw it twice). There's no lead charcater with muffled singing in a giant turd mask and no Shelia Ferguson 'acting' lines like 'Cake...., Don't talk to me about Cake! I haven't eaten for days' and nothing to match her infamous Gypsy Dance which had me actually crying with supressed laughter.
At Too Close to the Sun there's just unremitting dullness so if you can't make it to the Comedy Theatre or more likely it's actually closed before I finish this lengthy post then you could always head to a local lift which plays bad muzak and then lock yourself inside it and slowly write out the word DULL seventeen thousands time in grey before punching yourself unconcious - it would be much the same effect.
To paraphrase Charles Spencer - Too Close to the Sun; it's pure theatrical Nytol.
In fact if they want the show to run they should start stunt casting and invite a whole load of minor celebrities to play the part of Hemingway and then get them to actually blow their brains out on stage; it's the only way this thing will sell (and in fairness to the paying public they should begin this gimmick by forcing the creative to team to play the role intially before they then move on to Kerry Katona - it's the only way I'll go back into the Comedy Theatre for the next four days or however long it plays)
I didn't get a programme so I'm not sure who is actually playing Hemmingway but I do know that somewhere Timothy West is missing a particularly bad understudy.
Helen Dallimore (who did nothing for me in Wicked) is as welcome as a dose of Tamiflu but I suppose the rest of the cast deserve a slight credit for remembering most of their lines and not bumping into most of the furniture.
I'm sure things will come back to haunt me but at present the only lowlights I can remember are a song that begins ' oh that pirate girl', Helen Dallimore singing a song of regret about how wonderful her life used to be (with the subtext; when I was at the Apollo Victoria) and that the title song Too Close to the SUN is inspired by a scene in the middle of the NIGHT.
Oh and in the first half there are only solo 'songs' and not one of them moves the 'story' forward - when it's just the script you think hurry up to a song, the moment a 'song' begins you begin to realise what Alzheimers must be like as another instantly forgettable lyrics jars with another instantly forgettable 'melody' and you start thinking lets hurry up back to the script (and then repeat as unneccessary)
But in Act Two (yes I stayed for the whole thing as the fully paid up member of Opus Dei that I am) the 'composer' discovers duets and you wish that he hadn't..
But as a major word of caution this is no Behind the Iron Mask (which was so hilariously bad I saw it twice). There's no lead charcater with muffled singing in a giant turd mask and no Shelia Ferguson 'acting' lines like 'Cake...., Don't talk to me about Cake! I haven't eaten for days' and nothing to match her infamous Gypsy Dance which had me actually crying with supressed laughter.
At Too Close to the Sun there's just unremitting dullness so if you can't make it to the Comedy Theatre or more likely it's actually closed before I finish this lengthy post then you could always head to a local lift which plays bad muzak and then lock yourself inside it and slowly write out the word DULL seventeen thousands time in grey before punching yourself unconcious - it would be much the same effect.
To paraphrase Charles Spencer - Too Close to the Sun; it's pure theatrical Nytol.
"I tend to think if god wanted us to believe in him, he'd exist" Linda Smith
#61
Posted: 7/22/09 at 7:07pm
Is it really wrong that these reviews are making me desperately want to go and see it 
. If it lasts till it is booking till I am actually gonna go haha.
. If it lasts till it is booking till I am actually gonna go haha.
#62
Posted: 7/22/09 at 9:07pm
NO Mark!
GO GO GO!
It really is that bad!
You will live to regret this if you don't see it!
This is landmark theatre.
Sister, you are spot on with that review- spot on
GO GO GO!
It really is that bad!
You will live to regret this if you don't see it!
This is landmark theatre.
Sister, you are spot on with that review- spot on
#63
Posted: 7/23/09 at 4:43am
And so it begins.
Ad-libbing actors on Too Close to the Sun struggle to remain earnest as set collapses
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/5888509/Ad-libbing-actors-on-Too-Close-to-the-Sun-struggle-to-remain-earnest-as-set-collapses.html
Preview audiences are talking about the show, which is taking bookings until September 5 at the Comedy Theatre, as being a bigger turkey than even last year's Gone With the Wind.
Snippit in the mail
Alarm bells toll for 'dire' Hemingway musical
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201511/Wine-buff-sues-accused-105-000-bottle-wine-scandal.html
As an early reviewer put it: 'It's tacky, ugly, and the must-see disaster of the year.'
Ad-libbing actors on Too Close to the Sun struggle to remain earnest as set collapses
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-news/5888509/Ad-libbing-actors-on-Too-Close-to-the-Sun-struggle-to-remain-earnest-as-set-collapses.html
Preview audiences are talking about the show, which is taking bookings until September 5 at the Comedy Theatre, as being a bigger turkey than even last year's Gone With the Wind.
Snippit in the mail
Alarm bells toll for 'dire' Hemingway musical
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1201511/Wine-buff-sues-accused-105-000-bottle-wine-scandal.html
As an early reviewer put it: 'It's tacky, ugly, and the must-see disaster of the year.'
#64
Posted: 7/23/09 at 5:24am
There will be a cast recording. I cant see Ms Dallimore doing it unless its in her contract.
Sheila Ferguson refused to record her part for 'Behind The Iron Mask'.
Sheila Ferguson refused to record her part for 'Behind The Iron Mask'.
#65
Posted: 7/23/09 at 5:28am
I want to Mama, but im not in London again till September 4th which is when I move down (and aparently how long Too Close To The Sun will play till), so it needs to last :P.
#66
Posted: 7/23/09 at 5:35am
Opening night is tomorrow, Friday 24th.
Very rare for a show to open on a Friday?
Maybe they are hoping the reviews will get lost over the weekend!
Mark, Sep 5th is the official closing date but the chances of you seeing it on the 4th will be slim.
I think the chances of people seeing it a week Monday are slim!!! lol
Very rare for a show to open on a Friday?
Maybe they are hoping the reviews will get lost over the weekend!
Mark, Sep 5th is the official closing date but the chances of you seeing it on the 4th will be slim.
I think the chances of people seeing it a week Monday are slim!!! lol
#67
Posted: 7/23/09 at 6:18am
Wow. My blog was the "early reviewer" quoted in the article.
Methinks I owe a couple of people drinks...
Methinks I owe a couple of people drinks...
#68
Posted: 7/23/09 at 11:15am
Mama, did you get given a badge on your way out?
#69
Posted: 7/23/09 at 11:23am
I left in the interval but had one before the show anyway from the girl in the box office!
'Wear it with pride', she said menacingly!
'Wear it with pride', she said menacingly!
#70
Posted: 7/23/09 at 12:14pm
#71
Posted: 7/23/09 at 12:20pm
Well he wasnt in it Saturday night and that was show number 4. Did he return the beginning of this week or was that it?
The understudy should have his Equity card taken off him and burned!
The understudy should have his Equity card taken off him and burned!
#72
Posted: 7/23/09 at 12:25pm
This just sounds soooo ... craptacular. Can't wait for Tuesday :)
#73
Posted: 7/23/09 at 12:30pm
"Opening night is tomorrow, Friday 24th.
Very rare for a show to open on a Friday?"
Closes Monday 27th!!!
Very rare for a show to open on a Friday?"
Closes Monday 27th!!!
#74
Posted: 7/23/09 at 1:29pm
He was in it on Monday, when I saw it.
And I saw this in the London Paper on the way home: http://bit.ly/s8GD9
And I saw this in the London Paper on the way home: http://bit.ly/s8GD9
#75
Posted: 7/23/09 at 3:38pm
OMG my thread gets a mention in the London Paper! lol
.gif?width=300)
Tickets From $59
Tickets From $70
Tickets From $59
Tickets From $101
