Trying really hard this year to experience more musicals throughout whatever means - film, soundtrack, stage, Youtube slime tutorial…
I’ve been watching bits of 1600 Vine on Amazon Prime. It’s a bit cheesy but actually, the songs are growing on me. It’s very much a ‘you just need to be yourself, don’t get crushed by the corporate machine’ message and the characters don’t have any depth to them, but not too awful really.
I’ve also listened to The Abominables - a musical about a US kids hockey team which has a real life Yeti on the team. I think it’s supposed to be a kid’s musical - there’s not a lot of information about it online except that, I think, the composer died and a lot of his stuff has been released in memory of him.
The songs are all very, very short and none of them go anywhere because they keep getting interrupted with snatches of dialogue. There were a couple of good ones which felt like they’d go on my playlist but they never get the chance to take off as a song. There’s a quite funny bit, though, where the Canadian hockey team sing about how they’re supposed to be nice because they’re from Canada but threaten to ‘kill’ the US team. The fact there is a Yeti involved in the US team, though, really doesn’t come across in any of the songs.
2 Likes
I went to see Into the Woods today, and am thrilled to report it was great
My head is still going “Into the Woods to get the thing, to see, to sell, to get…”
7 Likes
One of my all-time favourite musicals. I’ve been intrigued by this new production but probably won’t get around to seeing it.
4 Likes
I saw that the other week! I thought it was really really wonderful, and I especially loved the set and lighting design. I may go again before it ends because it’s one of my favourite shows.
4 Likes
Paddington the Musical is brilliant, and I think is well worth seeing. (Only way to improve it imo would be if Mr Curry was played by Peter Capaldi)
4 Likes
My daughter is getting to see this with her school next month. I am SOOO jealous!!!
3 Likes
I’ve been trying to get my drama teacher to take us to see it, I’m definitely going to double down on that now
3 Likes
Was going to link my old post from What has Made Or Not Made Your Day but realised there might be some level 1s in here..
Can’t believe I’m only just learning that we have Musicals Thread here at Tardis Guide!! 
Anyway last night I had the pleasure of watching Legally Blonde The Musical at The Curve Theatre in Leicester starring Amber Davies. The first stop on it’s tour across the UK. It’s absolutely wonderful, Amber Davies was terrific as Elle Woods and it is easily up there with some of the most fun musicals I’ve seen. It’s funny, the songs are brilliant, the choreography slayed. If this tours near you, you should definitely take the plunge and buy a ticket.
9 Likes
Into the Woods is in my Top 5 musicals and frequently stays at #1. The production on the West End looks amazing and I’m praying it gets a transfer to the US. It feels wrong for there to be no Sondheim currently running or set to run on Broadway.
Anyway, it’s announcement day for touring productions coming to Orlando next year. We’ve had two aggressively mediocre seasons the past 2 years so please pray for me that I get some good food.
7 Likes
We don’t have a thread for Theatre? So I will put this here -
3 Likes
Well let’s remedy that by tweaking this thread…
6 Likes
Well then, the last play I saw was the stage adaptation of The Shawshank Redemption. Enjoyed it.
4 Likes
I’m hopefully going to be going to see The Sign of Four with Colin Baker and Terry Molloy at some point in the next couple of months.
4 Likes
They should rename it The Sign of Six.
3 Likes
Off to watch my daughter in her school’s production of The Addams Family tonight. My wife went to see it last night and said it was the best of the three we’ve watched her do at this school, so I’m expecting good things.
8 Likes
Last night’s show was really good. I’ll be honest and say I’ve cringed through the last couple of year’s performances. My daughter (naturally) has always been excellent but I’ve lots of experience of putting on shows with 10 and 11 year olds so I would always sit watching these high school productions wondering why they made the decisions they did.
For example, in The Lion King they had two different boys playing Young Simba. They literally alternated scenes. It just made no sense (not least because the two boys couldn’t have looked more different physically!). And the singing voices of the main cast were…not great.
Last year was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They cast a kid who couldn’t sing as Wonka so had another child do the singing parts for him. It was intensely odd having them both on stage (and he wasn’t even that good a singer). The rest of the production was okay but again, only about two children could actually sing well enough to carry a solo. And for some reason they didn’t provide the kids with any props. In a scene where Charlie was writing a letter he didn’t have a pen or paper and it just looked ridiculous.
But this year was easily the best (new drama teacher for starters). They actually cast kids who could carry a tune and the entire thing felt better directed and tighter. For a production filled with mainly teenagers from 13-16, it was really rather good and I actually found myself enjoying the show for the show and not just because my daughter was in it.
The Addams Family isn’t one I’ve ever seen on the professional stage so that made it even more fun.
But the best thing was obviously my daughter. She was in the Lead Ensemble but ended up with a solo dance spot and a solo singing part in one of the songs. Her confidence on stage has grown so much over the last few years and to see her in front of an audience singing and dancing with confidence was… well, I may have teared up a little. She’s always a bit frustrated she never gets a main part but she always makes the best of whatever she is given, gives 100% and was brilliant throughout. Very proud.
9 Likes
Musical theatre and Doctor Who are my two biggest loves, so I’m pretty excited about this thread. One of my favourite connections between the two is that Jenna Russell - an absolute queen of the West End who’s done everything from Fantine to the Baker’s Wife (I adored her in Merrily We Roll Along, Songs for a New World and Fun Home) pops up almost unrecognisably as the Weakest Link floor manager in ‘Bad Wolf’.
4 Likes
I was in a bunch of school musicals as a kid, including the adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Interesting to hear about these from the parents’ point of view.
4 Likes
I was in a few school productions, chorus for Joseph, Mr. Sowerberry in Oliver, & the lead Sir Admiral Percival Bunting Blunder in Hook Line & Sinker. I have never been able to find anything about this on the interwebs, I think it was a play written just for schools.
3 Likes
I was in a bunch too at high school, but dropped out of a university production of South Pacific because the cast was horribly cliquey. I’ve directed lots for my primary schools though and always had great fun doing it.
I was also in an amateur production of Anything Goes at Wimbledon Theatre playing a Chinese man. It was a different age… (but immense fun and I will treasure the experience forever).
4 Likes
