Veganizing "Friends": Rachel's Birthday Flanby Randi / September 6, 2013
Lights up on Washington Heights
Up at the break of day
I wake up and I got this little punk I gotta chase away
Pop the grate at the crack of dawn
Sing while I wipe down the awning
Hey y’all, Good morning!
Up at the break of day
I wake up and I got this little punk I gotta chase away
Pop the grate at the crack of dawn
Sing while I wipe down the awning
Hey y’all, Good morning!
So begins “In The Heights”, the 2008 Tony-winning Broadway musical, gingerly but decisively setting the scene and bringing the audience into its world. It’s a bold open for this groundbreaking show, since many audience members are surprised by the nakedness – the main character, Usnavi, is talking directly to us, rapping to very little music, and it’s a bit startling. But by the time the music builds and more characters join in verse, you’re there with them in Washington Heights. It’s one of those opening numbers that actually gives you chills, if done well.
Luckily, the new production at Philadelphia’s Walnut Street Theatre (WST) is indeed done well. With a cast of mainly Latino actors (thank goodness), this regional production of “In The Heights” impressed me in many ways, and almost made me stop thinking about the Broadway production.
The show tells the story of a tight-knit community in the Washington Heights-section of way-northern Manhattan, in a neighborhood primarily composed of Dominican immigrants. Those in the neighborhood all work hard and struggle to make ends meet, but they would do anything for their friends and neighbors, who are more like family. The local abuela is the neighborhood abuela, and when one of them suffers, they all suffer.
“In the heights
I flip the lights
And start my day
There are fights
And endless debts
And bills to pay”
“In The Heights”, written by the dream team of Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes, was a game changer when it debuted, like “Rent” was in its day. The style reflected modern times, with a score of rap and hip-hop, subverting what we took for granted about musical theatre while also paying tribute to it. If you were lucky enough to see the show on Broadway, especially with Miranda in the lead role, you know how hard it is to forget that experience, and the magic Miranda brought to it.
While I reminisced about Miranda’s unlimited charisma and talent a few times, the Walnut Street’s Usnavi, Perry Young, took over the role with aplomb. You miss some lines, as few people can spit out so many words as clearly as Miranda, but Young did an impressive job overall with the challenging role.
A few actors in the WST cast stunned me with their superb performances. Two supporting male characters, Benny and Sonny, respectively provide heart and comedy in the show, and it’s really important to cast actors who understand their characters’ sometimes unpleasant behavior. Rhett George as Benny was one of my favorite parts of this production, with his gorgeous voice and likability. You root for him even when he’s being kind of a jerk. Matthew J. Harris as Sonny was hilarious, and a few of his lines elicited the most laughter from the audience, thanks to his great comedic timing. The adorable Robin de Jesus played Sonny in the Broadway production, and while I love Robin, I don’t remember loving his Sonny as much as I did Harris’s.
While I reminisced about Miranda’s unlimited charisma and talent a few times, the Walnut Street’s Usnavi, Perry Young, took over the role with aplomb. You miss some lines, as few people can spit out so many words as clearly as Miranda, but Young did an impressive job overall with the challenging role.
A few actors in the WST cast stunned me with their superb performances. Two supporting male characters, Benny and Sonny, respectively provide heart and comedy in the show, and it’s really important to cast actors who understand their characters’ sometimes unpleasant behavior. Rhett George as Benny was one of my favorite parts of this production, with his gorgeous voice and likability. You root for him even when he’s being kind of a jerk. Matthew J. Harris as Sonny was hilarious, and a few of his lines elicited the most laughter from the audience, thanks to his great comedic timing. The adorable Robin de Jesus played Sonny in the Broadway production, and while I love Robin, I don’t remember loving his Sonny as much as I did Harris’s.
The wonderful set, plus heads in front of me (you can’t take pictures in the theatre; I had to be surreptitious!).
Rayanne Gonzales as Abuela Claudia was another standout, fully bringing the audience along on her character’s emotional arc. By the second act’s plot development, you feel, as the other characters do, as if she’s your abuela. My other favorite female character in this production was Nina, the smart girl who made it out of the barrio, played by Julia Hunter apparently in her professional debut. She is giving some performance as her debut! The Broadway cast featured the wonderful Mandy Gonzalez as Nina, and while you cannot really compare the two, I think Julia’s innocent take on the role affected me more.
One actor that stood out to me in a negative way was in the role of Daniela, because every time I looked at her she seemed to be making the same face – a big, wide-eyed smile. It just seemed off. Maybe this was the one case when original Broadway performer, the incredible Andrea Burns, was too much on my mind, but I think it’s at least in part a misstep in direction.
The real gripe I have with this production, that I wish they would work on ASAP, was that the sound seemed off! For a show that won the Tony for Best Orchestrations, the orchestrations for this production sometimes got in the way, and sometimes were lacking. For example, my favorite musical number in the show, “96,000”, features the characters taking turns in the first half rapping about what they’d do if they won the lottery, and then in the second half the backbeat builds behind the verses and then the full chorus belts into song. This climax gives legitimate chills even on the cast recording. However, in the WST production, I didn’t even realize this section had started until the song was over. You couldn’t hear the beat, you couldn’t hear Usnavi’s continued rap, and you somehow couldn’t hear the entire ensemble of the show singing the chorus. There are some serious sound issues if twenty-odd people singing the same thing couldn’t break through this strange din of confusion.
Even with these issues, the WST production is solid and definitely recommended. The overwhelmingly white, senior audience seemed to enjoy every moment of it, which pleased me to no end. “In The Heights” is a fresh, thrillingly modern show, enjoyed by anyone and everyone, and the WST is doing some fabulous work.
One actor that stood out to me in a negative way was in the role of Daniela, because every time I looked at her she seemed to be making the same face – a big, wide-eyed smile. It just seemed off. Maybe this was the one case when original Broadway performer, the incredible Andrea Burns, was too much on my mind, but I think it’s at least in part a misstep in direction.
The real gripe I have with this production, that I wish they would work on ASAP, was that the sound seemed off! For a show that won the Tony for Best Orchestrations, the orchestrations for this production sometimes got in the way, and sometimes were lacking. For example, my favorite musical number in the show, “96,000”, features the characters taking turns in the first half rapping about what they’d do if they won the lottery, and then in the second half the backbeat builds behind the verses and then the full chorus belts into song. This climax gives legitimate chills even on the cast recording. However, in the WST production, I didn’t even realize this section had started until the song was over. You couldn’t hear the beat, you couldn’t hear Usnavi’s continued rap, and you somehow couldn’t hear the entire ensemble of the show singing the chorus. There are some serious sound issues if twenty-odd people singing the same thing couldn’t break through this strange din of confusion.
Even with these issues, the WST production is solid and definitely recommended. The overwhelmingly white, senior audience seemed to enjoy every moment of it, which pleased me to no end. “In The Heights” is a fresh, thrillingly modern show, enjoyed by anyone and everyone, and the WST is doing some fabulous work.
Correction: The original version of this review named Karen Olivo as the original Nina, when it was Mandy Gonzalez. No more writing at midnight!
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Twelfth Night at the Young Vic: Shakespeare Gets the Modern Musical Treatment
It’s Theatre Thursday! Today we are talking about ‘Twelfth Night’, the new musical version at the Young Vic in London
Two years ago, everyone in the know in New York was raving about this exciting new production at the Public Theatre. It was a fast-paced, rollicking rendition of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a play we all thought we knew every possible version of yet were seeing in a new light – as a hip musical. (If you use the word hip are you automatically not hip?) I was sorry to have missed that original run, but luckily the production has come to London’s Young Vic to stir things up. With original director Kwame Kwei Armah on board alongside the Public’s Oskar Eustis, this version of Twelfth Night is a short and sweet modern musical with rocking original songs by Shaina Taub. Although the overeager chopping actually cut too much of the story, the overall concept successfully makes a familiar play feel new again.
Two years ago, everyone in the know in New York was raving about this exciting new production at the Public Theatre. It was a fast-paced, rollicking rendition of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a play we all thought we knew every possible version of yet were seeing in a new light – as a hip musical. (If you use the word hip are you automatically not hip?) I was sorry to have missed that original run, but luckily the production has come to London’s Young Vic to stir things up. With original director Kwame Kwei Armah on board alongside the Public’s Oskar Eustis, this version of Twelfth Night is a short and sweet modern musical with rocking original songs by Shaina Taub. Although the overeager chopping actually cut too much of the story, the overall concept successfully makes a familiar play feel new again.
Twelfth Night tells the story of twins separated after a shipwreck who believe the other has died. Viola, the girl, makes her way to the shores of Ilyria, a colorful city that here looks like if Lin-Manuel’s ‘In the Heights’ had the upstage space to create more storefronts besides the bodega. She disguises herself as a boy in order to work for Duke Orsino. She does this by donning a suit and taking off her wig and calling herself Cesario. The prettyboy Duke is like sooo in looove with Olivia, a wealthy countess who is mourning the death of her father and brother and so refuses to be courted or like go out to parties and meet dukes. Lovesick, the Duke orders his new boy, Cesario, to go to Olivia and profess the Duke’s love for her on his behalf and try to get her to see him because he sooo lurves her even though someone who *actually* loved someone would maybe be respectful of the fact that they were in mourning and maybe wait to try to get in their pants after some time had passed, but what do I know, I’m not a duke. As all such great (so great) plans are wont to do, this plan goes bananers because instead of listening to Cesario’s words about the Duke and falling in love with the absent third party (because that’s how that happens), Olivia falls in love with Cesario, the person who is actually there in person talking so like DUH. But Cesario’s a girl Cesario’s a girl! Dramaaaz. It would be cool to see a retelling where they let them be lesbians.
The Duke (Rupert Young) and Viola/Cesario (Gabrielle Brooks) have some of the most compelling, watchable scenes, but too much of the buildup of their story has been cut. She starts working for the Duke and like immediately falls in love with him? Sure he’s handsome but it’s hard to buy without proper time devoted to their story. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVES me a 90-minute show, but for such a classic like Twelfth Night – and for such an intriguing, provocative take on it – it deserves more time. Because, while more time and scenes would help the story that’s there, the scenes that are there are pretty strong. All of our leads find really hilarious comic moments in the seemingly nothingest of moments, elevating the production with every little laugh. Brooks has a voice, and even though her final scenes seemed all the same level of smiling-so-I’m-happy acting, it was nice to have a leading lady who could really sing. Natalie Dew (from the ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ musical, poor girl) has the impossible task of following the last Olivia I saw – Mark Rylance, who won another Tony for his work as the much-sought after lady of Ilyria. He really found humor in the dullest bits of the script (“What is your parentage?! Ugh!” was reason enough for him to win). While this Olivia wasn’t quite a laugh-riot, she did a very nice job.
Surprisingly, I thought one of the most riveting performances was that of Feste, the fool, who kind of acts as a narrator in this production. Surprising, because I never thought much of Feste before. But here the character is kind of the string holding the show together, and so interesting that I want to reread the play and see what I was missing. As played by Melissa Allan, Feste is a recognizable girl from the East London club scene (I would know), with leather pants and a cut-out top, down on her luck and keeping an observant eye on the fortunes of those around her. And fork me, Allan can SANG. Not just sing, but SANG. It helps that she gets the best song of the production – “Is This Not Love”, a song I can’t wait to download and play all the time and sing in the shower until my neighbors call the cops and I can be like “joke’s on you I’m not breaking any laws!”
We get a shitload of time devoted to Malvolio (Gerard Carey), Olivia’s steward. Even though Carey gives a fantastic performance and his were the comic best moments (how he made an entire audience cry laughing just by turning around on a segway is a feat), the unmatched attention made him seem like the lead character, and, as a result, didn’t allow for enough heft to be given to Orsino and Viola/Cesario’s relationship. Also, this brought too much attention to the worst part about Twelfth Night – the Malvolio/Toby Belch/Maria subplot. In this supposedly ‘comic’ subplot, Sir Toby Belch and Maria (the uncle and maidservant of Olivia, respectively) trick Malvolio into believing that Olivia is in love with him, by having Maria write a fake letter in Olivia’s handwriting. The letter contains declarations of love for a certain man that is undeniably Malvolio, as well as the notorious request for him to dress in ‘yellow stockings cross-gartered’ so he looks silly. And, as punishment, Toby and Maria…get married. I mean. It’s THE WORST. They deserve to DIE. Probably my most hated Shakespeare story. Sure, Malvolio is kind of a prick but he’s nothing compared to these two absolute wankers who take someone’s sanity and use it as a plaything. In this rendition, sadly, full weight is given to this subplot, so it takes over. And, sadder, they don’t do anything to fix how horrible it is. In fact, it’s clearer that Malvolio loses his mind and is taken away to an asylum! I want the version of Twelfth Night that sees Toby and Maria punished and banished from Ilyria, for a start. And while Carey’s “Count Malvolio” is a superb number (a perfect musical comedy song, too; Taub knows what she is doing for the genre), it doesn’t need two reprises.
It’s a little odd that the story is put in a modern setting – Ilyria is a regular, diverse city – yet has a duke and counts and countesses. As such, the modern setting and clothes and language feel a little off. Either a full commitment to modernity (i.e. getting rid of the nobility and having them be different kinds of upper class) or a fully realized traditional production just with modern music would have been more overall convincing.
As for the real boy twin, Sebastian (Jyuddah Jaymes), he is saved by a sea captain named Antonio (Jonathan Livingstone), who here looks like straight outta wartime. Antonio saves and helps Sebastian get back on his feet because of his ‘affection’ for him, which is never really explained. Here, Antonio gets to profess his feelings for Sebastian through song, and it works to make it clear that Antonio is in love with Sebastian, but the brevity of every section of the story means that it kind of comes out of nowhere, and it doesn’t go anywhere. And we don’t get a satisfying reunion of the two friends after all the twin-caused confusion in the final act. I would like to see a version where Antonio gets the boy. I already said something about Olivia and Viola being lovers, didn’t I? I guess I want someone to change the ending and do a full-on LGBTQ version.
But that’s besides the point! As is, the fact that I wish this was a full two-act work speaks volumes for how much fun I had. It’s not perfect, and I do (obviously) have a lot of criticisms, but mostly I had a forking blast. It may be a lightweight version, and only 90 minutes, but each minute was full of new life given to this old play. The talented cast and this vibrant, often electrifying production is not to be missed. And some of the music is magnificent. I can’t wait to see what Taub does next.
INFORMATION
Twelfth Night is at the Young Vic until November 17.
If you can’t get to London to see it, you can download the album (vocals by Shaina Taub) here and apparently it’s a ‘name your own price’ jawn! Amazing! Off to listen to “Is This Not Love” a million times. Oh and “If You Were My Beloved”!!
The Duke (Rupert Young) and Viola/Cesario (Gabrielle Brooks) have some of the most compelling, watchable scenes, but too much of the buildup of their story has been cut. She starts working for the Duke and like immediately falls in love with him? Sure he’s handsome but it’s hard to buy without proper time devoted to their story. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVES me a 90-minute show, but for such a classic like Twelfth Night – and for such an intriguing, provocative take on it – it deserves more time. Because, while more time and scenes would help the story that’s there, the scenes that are there are pretty strong. All of our leads find really hilarious comic moments in the seemingly nothingest of moments, elevating the production with every little laugh. Brooks has a voice, and even though her final scenes seemed all the same level of smiling-so-I’m-happy acting, it was nice to have a leading lady who could really sing. Natalie Dew (from the ‘Bend it Like Beckham’ musical, poor girl) has the impossible task of following the last Olivia I saw – Mark Rylance, who won another Tony for his work as the much-sought after lady of Ilyria. He really found humor in the dullest bits of the script (“What is your parentage?! Ugh!” was reason enough for him to win). While this Olivia wasn’t quite a laugh-riot, she did a very nice job.
Surprisingly, I thought one of the most riveting performances was that of Feste, the fool, who kind of acts as a narrator in this production. Surprising, because I never thought much of Feste before. But here the character is kind of the string holding the show together, and so interesting that I want to reread the play and see what I was missing. As played by Melissa Allan, Feste is a recognizable girl from the East London club scene (I would know), with leather pants and a cut-out top, down on her luck and keeping an observant eye on the fortunes of those around her. And fork me, Allan can SANG. Not just sing, but SANG. It helps that she gets the best song of the production – “Is This Not Love”, a song I can’t wait to download and play all the time and sing in the shower until my neighbors call the cops and I can be like “joke’s on you I’m not breaking any laws!”
We get a shitload of time devoted to Malvolio (Gerard Carey), Olivia’s steward. Even though Carey gives a fantastic performance and his were the comic best moments (how he made an entire audience cry laughing just by turning around on a segway is a feat), the unmatched attention made him seem like the lead character, and, as a result, didn’t allow for enough heft to be given to Orsino and Viola/Cesario’s relationship. Also, this brought too much attention to the worst part about Twelfth Night – the Malvolio/Toby Belch/Maria subplot. In this supposedly ‘comic’ subplot, Sir Toby Belch and Maria (the uncle and maidservant of Olivia, respectively) trick Malvolio into believing that Olivia is in love with him, by having Maria write a fake letter in Olivia’s handwriting. The letter contains declarations of love for a certain man that is undeniably Malvolio, as well as the notorious request for him to dress in ‘yellow stockings cross-gartered’ so he looks silly. And, as punishment, Toby and Maria…get married. I mean. It’s THE WORST. They deserve to DIE. Probably my most hated Shakespeare story. Sure, Malvolio is kind of a prick but he’s nothing compared to these two absolute wankers who take someone’s sanity and use it as a plaything. In this rendition, sadly, full weight is given to this subplot, so it takes over. And, sadder, they don’t do anything to fix how horrible it is. In fact, it’s clearer that Malvolio loses his mind and is taken away to an asylum! I want the version of Twelfth Night that sees Toby and Maria punished and banished from Ilyria, for a start. And while Carey’s “Count Malvolio” is a superb number (a perfect musical comedy song, too; Taub knows what she is doing for the genre), it doesn’t need two reprises.
It’s a little odd that the story is put in a modern setting – Ilyria is a regular, diverse city – yet has a duke and counts and countesses. As such, the modern setting and clothes and language feel a little off. Either a full commitment to modernity (i.e. getting rid of the nobility and having them be different kinds of upper class) or a fully realized traditional production just with modern music would have been more overall convincing.
As for the real boy twin, Sebastian (Jyuddah Jaymes), he is saved by a sea captain named Antonio (Jonathan Livingstone), who here looks like straight outta wartime. Antonio saves and helps Sebastian get back on his feet because of his ‘affection’ for him, which is never really explained. Here, Antonio gets to profess his feelings for Sebastian through song, and it works to make it clear that Antonio is in love with Sebastian, but the brevity of every section of the story means that it kind of comes out of nowhere, and it doesn’t go anywhere. And we don’t get a satisfying reunion of the two friends after all the twin-caused confusion in the final act. I would like to see a version where Antonio gets the boy. I already said something about Olivia and Viola being lovers, didn’t I? I guess I want someone to change the ending and do a full-on LGBTQ version.
But that’s besides the point! As is, the fact that I wish this was a full two-act work speaks volumes for how much fun I had. It’s not perfect, and I do (obviously) have a lot of criticisms, but mostly I had a forking blast. It may be a lightweight version, and only 90 minutes, but each minute was full of new life given to this old play. The talented cast and this vibrant, often electrifying production is not to be missed. And some of the music is magnificent. I can’t wait to see what Taub does next.
INFORMATION
Twelfth Night is at the Young Vic until November 17.
If you can’t get to London to see it, you can download the album (vocals by Shaina Taub) here and apparently it’s a ‘name your own price’ jawn! Amazing! Off to listen to “Is This Not Love” a million times. Oh and “If You Were My Beloved”!!
The Prince of Egypt Hits London: That DreamWorks Money Though!
A tad too late in the game for reminding English people that they actually approve of (the idea of) some refugees, The Prince of Egypt has arrived in London, packing ‘em in at the Dominion Theatre and taking no prisoners (except the Hebrews). Based on the 1998 DreamWorks movie of the same name, The Prince of Egypt tells the story you know from your babble, of a little Hebrew bebbeh whose mother put him in a basket and sent him down the river instead of keeping him to suffer the slavery and genocide of their people. That baby was discovered by the Queen of Egypt, who adopted him, named him Moses (surprise!), and raised him as her own, until he realized his heritage and decided, with the help of god, to save his people. It’s a fantastic story, and really a phenomenal idea for a musical. So why is this show so lackluster?
Honestly, it feels amateur. It feels like an early draft in terms of book (at least some of that dialogue, yeesh) and, much more so, score, which is a strange feeling to get about material that has existed in large part for more than 20 years. I hate to speak ill of my boy little Stevie Schwartz, composer of some of my favorite scores (like Pippin and Wicked (don’t even try to pretend you don’t also love the Wicked score, no one’s buying your bullshirt)), but aside from the Oscar-winning “When You Believe”, there are few musical numbers that don’t feel pedestrian, despite so many golden opportunities for great songs. And the layout, my god: in Act II, there was a 40-minute span where every. single. song. sounded the same, with the same melody, same key, same time signature. It’s like Musical Theatre 101 to not have songs that sound the same or achieve the same goal in a row, so to have like, 7 of them almost made me scream. It’s a shame that a production this huge and this destined for a long run has such a bland score.
The visuals of this production, however, are fire. I mean that literally – there’s a good amount of pyrotechnics used. This production is dripping with evidence of endless financial backing, and it’s quite a visual treat. The staging, the special effects, that stage lifting up to ‘drown’ the Egyptians (the best part!), it’s all great. Not in an artistic way, mind you, not in a ‘wow this is sophisticated storytelling’ way, but in a ‘wow this spectacle is fun to watch’ way.
That extends to the cast as well. Luke Brady is a strong Moses, tasked with the enormous burden of carrying the show and doing a commendable job. His brother-turned-enemy, Ramses, is played by a solid Liam Tamne who gave me strong Papi from Pose vibes while offering a very very different Ramses from what we’ve seen before from performers like Yul Brynner, much more obviously insecure and uncertain. Christine Allado’s Tzipporah, like most of the women in this male-centric show, was sung well but felt poorly written. Her first big song is a sexy dance in a cage and she’s like ‘when I dance I dance for me’ which could have given Miss Saigon early-first-act vibes but instead reminded me of the Crazy Ex Girlfriend song “Put Yourself First” where the girls satirically sing “make yourself sexy/just for yourself” and I was like, oof. Her character continued to enrage me when she complained about the possibility of having to live in the palace in order to SAVE AN ENTIRE RACE like holy what girl get over yourself oh it’s so sad you have to live like a princess in order to SAVE PEOPLE FROM SLAVERY my absolute goodness. Ramses’s wife Nefertari (which every time I heard it was like like “It’s NeferTITI oh wait no it’s not”) (played by Tanisha Spring) is similarly underwritten as a haughty bench, except she gets to show a softer side (really any side) with a moving song in Act II that was, unfortunately, too similar to the ones before and after it. I did like Alexia Khadime’s Miriam, possibly because she is only really in it to act like Jasmine in the marketplace pretending to be crazy (except not pretending) and then singing the best song, so, lucky her.
The ensemble is probably the hardest working in London right now, with endless difficult choreography demanded of them. I’m not sure if Sean Cheesman’s (stay fresh, cheese bags) nonstop, energetic, primal choreography is always necessary, but it’s always interesting to watch and feels raw and visceral in a unique way (I almost yelled in pain just watching some of the more intense moves). The talented ensemble may be the most diverse in London too, which is great.
But I’m not sure that huge diverse ensemble includes any Jews (and even if it did, the whole awkward dancing to chanting Hebrew felt strange). And that wouldn’t be the only problem with this show in terms of that representation. This is a show about Jews – not sure if you knew, but Moses, hoo boy, he’s big with us. And this is telling his entire story, from birth to the parting of the Red Sea, like, it’s foundational Judaism right here. But this production, aside from treating ‘Hebrew’ like it’s some exotic fictional designation (and never saying the word Jew), has sanitized the story so it never actually feels like it’s about religion. It really seems like this guy Moses is doing all of this on his own, with very few, too few, mentions of how god is working through him and how god is on the side of the Jews (chosen people helloooo). Also, his guilt about all the shit he’s wrought is sad but he never confronts god about what he’s making him do. Seriously if you didn’t know the story it’s very blink-and-you’ll-miss-when-they-mention-it’s-god’s-doing, when they mention that god wants to save the Jews. Which is weird. Maybe they wanted this to feel like a more universal refugee story, which is valid for today’s society, but there’s a way to do that without making it feel like Jewish erasure.
If you are a discerning theatregoer, you are better off forgetting about Charlton Heston’s crappiness for a bit and rewatching The Ten Commandments film and playing “When You Believe” at the opportune moment, like when I watch Legally Blonde and pause when she sees her name on the list of interns so I can sing “So Much Better” from the musical version. If, instead, you are an average London audience member who loves spectacle, you will love this.
INFORMATION
Act I ended after an hour and 20 minutes, and the show overall ended after 2 hours 45 minutes. Yes it is about 20 minutes too long.
I sat in the stalls, and I recommend sitting on the house left side aisles for easy access to the ladies rooms. There’s one up from the bar at the back on the left, and there’s one if you sit on the extreme left all the way down by the stage, so that’s a fun little secret few people knew about. This theatre is a g-d barn so I can’t say if the right side of the house was set up the same.
Like most things at the Dominion Theatre, the audience behaves like they’re at a rock concert (as most long-running recent productions have been rock concert-ish…or the traveling megachurch services, not even joking). Lots of phones, lots of talking and even at like, regular volume? I had to yell at an old man for nonstop loud talking and he didn’t stop so I had to sit back and stew and hope that corona gets him.
Maybe I’m just spoiled with well done theatres lately, but the Dominion is a mess right now, not really up to par with small hospitality things that every other West End and near-West End theatre does. Like, they have no water pitchers at the bars. If you want water you have to wait in the regular long bar line. What’s up with that nonsense! Also, only one of the stalls doors had a content warning sign (strobe lights, flashing, fire, &c) and I had to go searching for it. And there are no signs for the run time information so you have to find an usher to ask.
Also, programmes are £6. And they aren’t even giant souvenir-edition ones! Just for the regular small programme. PASS (over).
