#1
Posted: 7/25/05 at 12:46pm
Saw the show on Saturday afternoon and I was disappointed. I love the Amercan cast recording, and the London production boasted Christian Campbell - who was excellent, but you can't help but wonder if he thought 'what the hell am I doing in this production?'.
It just seemed like a really weak staging. I was very surprised that this was directed by Scott Schwarz, as he directed the original production - you just expect big things for the tiny Menier Chocolate Factory to bring over the original director. Can't believe there was a credit for Musical Staging - WHAT musical staging exactly? A friend tells me that the staging for Sunday cleverly parodies Sunday in the Park with George (which I don't know at all, so it was lost on me) but there was just nothing inventive about the show at all.
I was pleased to have seen it - with a good director, venue and set designer (I think the design is the most important thing with small sized shows, how you use the space, and the set was just a tad on the amateurish side) this is clearly an excellent show, but I don't think the London production is worthy of some of the excellent reviews it has receieved. I just sat through the whole thing imagining it done differently, and I enjoyed my own vision of it much more!
Two pet hates that were also in it -
1) Awful sound design. Standing one metre away from me Christian Campbell's voice still came from a speaker, not his mouth. Get the band off the stage and let the performers project naturally, the venue is tiny.
2) Actors miming playing musical instruments on stage - Hugh Jackman was an offender - and also, the keyboard he was playing was a battered, tiny little my-first-keyboard - Larson was a composer, not a child.
Anyone else seen it?
It just seemed like a really weak staging. I was very surprised that this was directed by Scott Schwarz, as he directed the original production - you just expect big things for the tiny Menier Chocolate Factory to bring over the original director. Can't believe there was a credit for Musical Staging - WHAT musical staging exactly? A friend tells me that the staging for Sunday cleverly parodies Sunday in the Park with George (which I don't know at all, so it was lost on me) but there was just nothing inventive about the show at all.
I was pleased to have seen it - with a good director, venue and set designer (I think the design is the most important thing with small sized shows, how you use the space, and the set was just a tad on the amateurish side) this is clearly an excellent show, but I don't think the London production is worthy of some of the excellent reviews it has receieved. I just sat through the whole thing imagining it done differently, and I enjoyed my own vision of it much more!
Two pet hates that were also in it -
1) Awful sound design. Standing one metre away from me Christian Campbell's voice still came from a speaker, not his mouth. Get the band off the stage and let the performers project naturally, the venue is tiny.
2) Actors miming playing musical instruments on stage - Hugh Jackman was an offender - and also, the keyboard he was playing was a battered, tiny little my-first-keyboard - Larson was a composer, not a child.
Anyone else seen it?
