(no subject)
At some point this afternoon in between various pieces of Twitter glee (The Globe & Sam Barnett discussing chest waxing, the Backstreet Boys posting a picture of the 5 of them <3, the Tour de France updates) What's On Stage asked how many professional West End actors had been spotted in Superstar at the weekend. They came up with 3 names themselves and within about 5 minutes there were another half dozen.
Not all of them are leading men just yet, several were understudy types, but it's spectacularly depressing that guys who are in big shows, guys who we've paid to go and see already, feel they have to take part in a spectacle like this to be able to get this role.
Not to mention most of them were hidden in the background, away from the cameras, so are they all going to get kicked off early on? Or is this just a spectacularly cynical thing where suddenly they'll reveal all the talent when we get to live shows.
Bleuch.
The whole thing makes me feel vaguely nauseous and the WORST part right now is that if they cast Alex Gaumond I'll probably cave and go and see it and I don't WANT to give them ANY of my money :-(
In order to get rid of the horrid taste the whole thing leaves in my mouth I shall instead now talk about an awesome fringe venue- the Union Theatre which punches way above its weight and The Fix which is their current show, nominated for 9 Offies and very enjoyable.
The Fix @ Union Theatre
So this is a musical I didn't really know at all- it's America and politics and sex, drugs and... well not rock and roll but you do get the Mafia and this production of it was a little gem.
It opens with the death of Reed Chandler before he's about to be elected president and then he hangs around- a slightly mocking ghost- as his wife and brother groom his son, Cal, to take on the Chandler name & destiny only of course it doesn't quite go like that and Cal swears at a press conference, falls in love with a stripper, gets addicted to cocaine and finally tried to take on the mafia.
It's one of those stories where everyone is manipulating everyone else and even Cal, who comaplins several times that he wasn't given any choice as to whether he go into politics or not, ends up manipulating his uncle (in a slightly creepy/slightly hot/possibly incestuous scene that I'm not sure I understood but was utterly compelling)
All of the performances were good from Pete Gallagher hanging around as the ghost of Reed to the smaller roles such as Donovan Preston's Peter who is a constant presence, a sort of minder to the family, but who manages to make his views clear despite his monosyllabic utterances.
Daisy Tonge is Tina, the club dancer/stripper Cal falls for, and I think maybe she just overdid the innocence/naivety a little? But that's the character not ehr probably and she did look utterly lovely and sang her numbers perfectly. And Will Pearce as the man who was probably Cal's real father, seen in a flashback, managed to put his whole lifestory into one song which is always impressive.
But the main trio were the best, as it should be.
Liz May Brice as Violet Chandler was a woman who needed desperately to stay in control but who couldn't quite get the men around ehr to do as she wished- she's the Lady Macbeth of the piece really but despite slowly spiralling into alcoholism towards the end she's the only one left standing (alone).
And I found Miles Western's Graeham absolutely mesmerising. He's the mastermind, the man who wanted to be President but was left crippled by Polio and watched his atheletic brother get the girl and the job (well nearly). Although of course "got the girl" may not quite be the problem as his sexuality is somewhat.. ambiguous. He spends the whole play telling people not to pity him but of coruse it's hard not to becuse however in control he wants to be he, like Violet, can't quite bend the world (or more importantly Cal) as he wished.
And then Cal... I loved Louis Maskell as Strephon in Iolanthe a stupid amount because he's pretty and he has a beautiful voice with real power and range but it's not exactly a stretching role so seeing him as Cal was wonderful. He managed to show the tension as Cal grows into a man who could be elected and yet simultaneously never quite grows up because he's dependent on his mother, his uncle, the memory of his father, the mafia and of course cocaine.
It's a great ensemble and well worth seeing though I fear it may be sold out by now.
It was actually quite weird seeing this so soon after Posh- they're both about politics and bad behaviour and shadowy groups covering things up only in Posh they're ratehr more successful than in The Fix. Not sure if that actually says anything about British v. American politics or if it's just the different natures of the shows!
Not all of them are leading men just yet, several were understudy types, but it's spectacularly depressing that guys who are in big shows, guys who we've paid to go and see already, feel they have to take part in a spectacle like this to be able to get this role.
Not to mention most of them were hidden in the background, away from the cameras, so are they all going to get kicked off early on? Or is this just a spectacularly cynical thing where suddenly they'll reveal all the talent when we get to live shows.
Bleuch.
The whole thing makes me feel vaguely nauseous and the WORST part right now is that if they cast Alex Gaumond I'll probably cave and go and see it and I don't WANT to give them ANY of my money :-(
In order to get rid of the horrid taste the whole thing leaves in my mouth I shall instead now talk about an awesome fringe venue- the Union Theatre which punches way above its weight and The Fix which is their current show, nominated for 9 Offies and very enjoyable.
The Fix @ Union Theatre
So this is a musical I didn't really know at all- it's America and politics and sex, drugs and... well not rock and roll but you do get the Mafia and this production of it was a little gem.
It opens with the death of Reed Chandler before he's about to be elected president and then he hangs around- a slightly mocking ghost- as his wife and brother groom his son, Cal, to take on the Chandler name & destiny only of course it doesn't quite go like that and Cal swears at a press conference, falls in love with a stripper, gets addicted to cocaine and finally tried to take on the mafia.
It's one of those stories where everyone is manipulating everyone else and even Cal, who comaplins several times that he wasn't given any choice as to whether he go into politics or not, ends up manipulating his uncle (in a slightly creepy/slightly hot/possibly incestuous scene that I'm not sure I understood but was utterly compelling)
All of the performances were good from Pete Gallagher hanging around as the ghost of Reed to the smaller roles such as Donovan Preston's Peter who is a constant presence, a sort of minder to the family, but who manages to make his views clear despite his monosyllabic utterances.
Daisy Tonge is Tina, the club dancer/stripper Cal falls for, and I think maybe she just overdid the innocence/naivety a little? But that's the character not ehr probably and she did look utterly lovely and sang her numbers perfectly. And Will Pearce as the man who was probably Cal's real father, seen in a flashback, managed to put his whole lifestory into one song which is always impressive.
But the main trio were the best, as it should be.
Liz May Brice as Violet Chandler was a woman who needed desperately to stay in control but who couldn't quite get the men around ehr to do as she wished- she's the Lady Macbeth of the piece really but despite slowly spiralling into alcoholism towards the end she's the only one left standing (alone).
And I found Miles Western's Graeham absolutely mesmerising. He's the mastermind, the man who wanted to be President but was left crippled by Polio and watched his atheletic brother get the girl and the job (well nearly). Although of course "got the girl" may not quite be the problem as his sexuality is somewhat.. ambiguous. He spends the whole play telling people not to pity him but of coruse it's hard not to becuse however in control he wants to be he, like Violet, can't quite bend the world (or more importantly Cal) as he wished.
And then Cal... I loved Louis Maskell as Strephon in Iolanthe a stupid amount because he's pretty and he has a beautiful voice with real power and range but it's not exactly a stretching role so seeing him as Cal was wonderful. He managed to show the tension as Cal grows into a man who could be elected and yet simultaneously never quite grows up because he's dependent on his mother, his uncle, the memory of his father, the mafia and of course cocaine.
It's a great ensemble and well worth seeing though I fear it may be sold out by now.
It was actually quite weird seeing this so soon after Posh- they're both about politics and bad behaviour and shadowy groups covering things up only in Posh they're ratehr more successful than in The Fix. Not sure if that actually says anything about British v. American politics or if it's just the different natures of the shows!