#1
Posted: 9/20/08 at 5:27am
Our House
The Lowry
19/9/2009
For years rumors have been floating about as to when the 2003 Laurence Olivier Award winner would be staged again, and then the news came we all wanted to hear that in May this year a UK tour of the show would kick off in Birmingham (Good Times)
It always amazed me that Our House was as good as it is or did as poorly as it did in London when it played a mere 10 months in the West End.
Our House has all the signs of been a show which critics would hate, a jukebox musical circulating around Teenagers, but the show is a winner all the way.
The new production is smart in execution and deliverance, the director Matthew Warchus has assembled a fantastic young cast as well as putting together a slick, stylish, energetic production.
The set for the show is different to the West End one, scaled down if you will, but this actually turns out to be a good thing.
The set consists of 6 doors along the back wall and 1 on each wing flat, as the parallel Good and Bad scenes change the doors spin around to black and white to represent the moment we are looking at.
This is massively effective, and with storm clouds projected above and the clever use of lighting the scenes change perfectly.Doors are used all the way through (obviously representing the doors you can go through when you make a choice) from Cell Doors to Church doors.
Smartly the director and Choreographer know when to leave alone, the songs such as Baggy Trousers, Wings Of A Dove, The Sun and The Rain etc are completely unchanged from the West End production.Driving In My Car is also the same with the same car and projection as London.
Not to say that the new productions doesn't offer anything new, act 2 has a new song (NW5) a brilliant ballad which was performed beautifully Miria Parvin as Sarah. The story is also tighter and moves along at warp speed. Not as succesful was the opening of the show.Where the original opened with House Of Fun and the fantastic condom buying scenes, the show now begins with a scene between Joes Mum and Dad and goes straight in to Our House.
The cast are fantastic with a special mention to the ensemble who look like they are having the times of their lives.Brookstein is fine as Joes Dad, but the role is a thankless role with not much to do, he serves more as a narrator.Gwyneth Strong has very little to do which is a shame, but her scenes were strong (accept her accent which went from Irish to Jamaican).
The show all comes down to the young cast though, and what a cast they are.Jenny Fitzpatrick and Sophia Nomvete are hilarious as Sarah's best friend as are Jack Shalloo and Michael Everest as Joe's best friends.However the night belongs to Chris Carswell as Joe who has come straight out of Mountview straight in to a lead role. His performance is brilliant, he dances flawlessly, sings brilliantly and acts like an old pro, he also has star quality radiating from his body, this guy has a HUGE future ahead of him.
Most of the performances are similar to the original (they all have the dvd im guessing) but that's not a bad thing, same as the fact that 60 percent of the show is staged and choreographed the same as London.After all that's the show we fell in love with.
9/10
The Lowry
19/9/2009
For years rumors have been floating about as to when the 2003 Laurence Olivier Award winner would be staged again, and then the news came we all wanted to hear that in May this year a UK tour of the show would kick off in Birmingham (Good Times)
It always amazed me that Our House was as good as it is or did as poorly as it did in London when it played a mere 10 months in the West End.
Our House has all the signs of been a show which critics would hate, a jukebox musical circulating around Teenagers, but the show is a winner all the way.
The new production is smart in execution and deliverance, the director Matthew Warchus has assembled a fantastic young cast as well as putting together a slick, stylish, energetic production.
The set for the show is different to the West End one, scaled down if you will, but this actually turns out to be a good thing.
The set consists of 6 doors along the back wall and 1 on each wing flat, as the parallel Good and Bad scenes change the doors spin around to black and white to represent the moment we are looking at.
This is massively effective, and with storm clouds projected above and the clever use of lighting the scenes change perfectly.Doors are used all the way through (obviously representing the doors you can go through when you make a choice) from Cell Doors to Church doors.
Smartly the director and Choreographer know when to leave alone, the songs such as Baggy Trousers, Wings Of A Dove, The Sun and The Rain etc are completely unchanged from the West End production.Driving In My Car is also the same with the same car and projection as London.
Not to say that the new productions doesn't offer anything new, act 2 has a new song (NW5) a brilliant ballad which was performed beautifully Miria Parvin as Sarah. The story is also tighter and moves along at warp speed. Not as succesful was the opening of the show.Where the original opened with House Of Fun and the fantastic condom buying scenes, the show now begins with a scene between Joes Mum and Dad and goes straight in to Our House.
The cast are fantastic with a special mention to the ensemble who look like they are having the times of their lives.Brookstein is fine as Joes Dad, but the role is a thankless role with not much to do, he serves more as a narrator.Gwyneth Strong has very little to do which is a shame, but her scenes were strong (accept her accent which went from Irish to Jamaican).
The show all comes down to the young cast though, and what a cast they are.Jenny Fitzpatrick and Sophia Nomvete are hilarious as Sarah's best friend as are Jack Shalloo and Michael Everest as Joe's best friends.However the night belongs to Chris Carswell as Joe who has come straight out of Mountview straight in to a lead role. His performance is brilliant, he dances flawlessly, sings brilliantly and acts like an old pro, he also has star quality radiating from his body, this guy has a HUGE future ahead of him.
Most of the performances are similar to the original (they all have the dvd im guessing) but that's not a bad thing, same as the fact that 60 percent of the show is staged and choreographed the same as London.After all that's the show we fell in love with.
9/10
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
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