Broadway, West End, or your Local Theatre District.
Every once in a long while, Mrs. Gramps and I will go to the theatre. For us, it is a 150 mile round trip to see a Broadway show. Today, we went to see Hamilton. You may know it is a Musical Rap on a figure that helped to start the United States of America. Great show. I was taken by the staging. The dancers would act as a stage crew, moving furniture on stage and off as the show went on.
We were in the nosebleed section, but it the sound system was good. Helped to know some o the biography of Hamilton to understand all that is going on.
In truth, this is the Hamilton Touring group. We went to Spokane to see it.
What have you seen lately at your local theatre?
We were in the nosebleed section, but it the sound system was good. Helped to know some o the biography of Hamilton to understand all that is going on.
In truth, this is the Hamilton Touring group. We went to Spokane to see it.
What have you seen lately at your local theatre?
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Recently we have seen "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller, and I went alone to "The Merchant of Venice 1936". Last Friday we saw the opera "Peter Grimes". We've also been to a couple of classical concerts and contemporary dance performances. We are fortunate in not having to do a 150-mile round trip!
Our local theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, is nearby to our home and we get productions which often then transfer to the West End. This has meant nearly 40 years of wonderful theatre going, as and when we can afford it!
I was invited to see (the closing show) of Shout yesterday.
It was fun and the singer/dancer/actors were amazing, as was the band playing all the music!
We have quite a number of theaters in my Fair City; this was in downtown, so only about a twenty minute drive from my house.
I should also add, we have had two sons who performed in high school and college productions.
One granddaughter performed in a couple of community theater productions as a kid, but she stopped when she was still in grade school.
Another granddaughter has worked as a stage manager of three high school productions now--I would hope she continues into college. She is very good at it. I told her dad she would be amazed at the stage production of Hamilton.
On the weekend I saw a local production of Macbeth, which I went to by myself as I think my friends and family prefer lighter performances or musicals. This production had the creepiest witches I have seen - like out of a horror movie. Usually I prefer Shakespeare's comedies, but Macbeth is one of the tragedies I like seeing different adaptions of.
The week before I saw 'Murder Village' with my parents, an Agatha Christie style comedy-mystery improv play that was on during the Melbourne Comedy Festival. At the start the audience voted on which characters should be the murderer and victim and gave a few other suggestions on a Google doc, so every performance they put on has a different story-line and ending. The play was pretty funny and the actors played stereotyped, but entertaining characters - my parents said some of the characters reminded them of the Goons, who I don't remember well enough to compare, but they found them entertaining.
Then at church the youth minister announced she is looking into taking some of the teenagers to see the professional performance of 'Jesus Christ, Superstar' and I have volunteered to help supervise if they go. As a child of the 80s Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals are nostalgic for me. I have previously seen 'The Phantom of the Opera' and 'Sunset Boulevard'.
It was incredibly thought-provoking. It used Shakespeare's original text (with a few additions) but set it in the East End of London in 1936 and made Shylock a woman. The backdrop of the rise of fascism and the way Jewish people were treated at the time threw a whole new light on this often problematic play. Shylock wasn't turned into a hero by any means, but the background threw a whole different light on her actions. And it ended with an explanation of how people from all marginalised communities banded together to fight the fascists at the time.
Sadly we live in public transport hell, so getting to theatre or cinema is a rare treat these days. The last train is just after 10:30 and we wouldn't get to the station in time to catch it. Plus, Hugal's work schedule includes every other weekend. So we're restricted to the occasional matinee.
There is an am-dram society here which we've seen some performances from, as well as some really good shows at a local school. In particular, a few years ago we saw the school do 'Little Shop of Horrors' and the girl who played Audrey made me cry during 'Somewhere That's Green' - I wasn't surprised to read later that she won an award at a local drama festival, I'm sure she has a future.
We also saw the school do 'Les Miserables', and seeing young teenagers embody the pointless sacrifice of the students was incredibly powerful.
In complete contrast, we went to the cinema yesterday and saw the pro-shot version of the musical SIX. We've seen it several times when we lived in London and could get cheap tickets at the last minute. This version reunited the original cast, a few years down the line, and for me the additional theatre experience strengthened all the performances. The show is a blast, very cleverly written and makes some serious points amid all the fun.
I do really like getting away to a larger centre -- London or New York, although travel to the US is not that appealing to me right now so we haven't been to New York since 2018 -- to see some "big" shows. We will be in London for a week in May this year and have tickets to Hadestown -- that was the one musical I wanted to see badly enough to buy tickets in advance. Otherwise we'll see what shows we can get day-of tickets for while we're there. If anyone here has seen any good shows in London lately that will be on in May and that you'd recommend, let me know!
Because we're so out of the way, things like the National Theatre Live filmed productions are a real pleasure when they come our way. In the last few months we've seen Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, and Dr. Strangelove with Steven Coogan, at the cinema, and really enjoyed both. We were sorry to miss seeing The Importance of Being Ernest in the same series, because there were only two showtimes and both were at times when we couldn't make it.
Our most recent foray to the theatre was to see the brilliant Piaf at the delightful little Watermill Theatre near Newbury. A restaurant lunch before a matinee performance, seating for coffee etc in the garden by The Lambourne river. Perfect! It's on for another 2 weeks.
We're soon going to be seeing "The Women of Llanrumney" which explores women in 18th century Jamaica. It comes highly acclaimed but will not, I think, be a comfortable ride!
Llanrumney is a district of Cardiff; in the play it is a Welsh-owned plantation.
Here in Southampton we are lucky to have the superb Mayflower Theatre. Peter Grimes by the WNO is on tomorrow evening for one night only. I would have gone but it would not be Mrs Vole's cup of tea, and it clashes with the folk club I run!
I was at Uni in Southampton. I think the Mayflower was a cinema then (?the Gaumont). But we had the late lamented Nuffield Theatre on campus - I remember seeing John Aubrey's "Brief Lives" with Roy Dotrice, Ibsen's "Ghosts" and Brecht's "Galileo", possibly one or two other things too although I was a very serious-minded young man who wasn't sure if God approved of me spending 50p on a ticket.
I would pick Some Like it Hot. It sounds like an interesting update on the movie.
I'm not sure if the youth musical outing is going ahead, so I am going to go see Les Mis the Arena Spectacular. I saw it at the theatre in London almost 20 years ago and wasn't sure how an arena spectacular would compare, but it's got good reviews and they added extra shows so more affordable tickets were available
Oh I love that opera!
And not hard to believe as imo you come across on theses boards as someone with very eclectic taste.
I think Mimi was putting it on at the end though - no-one that ill would be able to project over an orchestra, not even in a world where we sing about pawning old coats.
(Not so in "Peter Grimes" which we saw recently: he goes down with his boat, only seen at a distance and briefly commented upon by his fellow-townsfolk from the shore),
This article from the New York Times might be of interest: “Exit Arias: What Opera Can Teach Us About Dying.” (I hope the link I’ve provided is a free link; it’s supposed to be.)
A few bits from the article:
My grandmother used to say “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” I suspect the “exit aria” is an exemplification of that rule, or perhaps of a corollary: Never let factuality get in the way of Truth.
And speaking of death, I heartily echo the recommendations of Hadestown above. I’ve seen it twice, and it’s quickly moved into my Favorite Three.
“Before she dies she sings an aria. The so-called ‘die aria’…”
Maybe you need a Danish accent.
We've also been to the opera ("Peter Grimes") and an orchestral concert. Ballet at the end of next week, then it all goes quiet!
Whatever happened to plain drama?