Why is this bubbly young woman\u2019s best friend this old and\ndowdy lady? It should be a contemporary of hers. Why are you making this\nperformer look like her grandmother? In that frumpy costuming? I\u2019m honestly\noffended on Rosie\u2019s behalf. Becky\u2019s big song where she writes and sends Annie\u2019s\nletter is a heaving pile of clich\u00e9s and random phrases (with of course lots of\ninternal rhymes). And while she does later clarify that she just \u2018edited\u2019\nAnnie\u2019s words, this song is clearly her typing the letter herself, which is a\nbad change from the movie. Annie needs to write her own letter. Her friend can\nsend it, but Annie needs to have that power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

• Cut, by god immediately cut, the ridiculous \u201cLet\u2019s Get Physical\u201d \u2018joke\u2019.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

  In Act 2, Annie flies to Seattle to try to find Sam, and she calls her friend Becky to check in. Becky comes onstage holding hand weights and out of breath, as \u201cLet\u2019s Get Physical\u201d blasts on the speakers. Is the joke that she was exercising and she is struggling? Because fat? Did you have to pay for the rights to use that song for 4 seconds? Did more than one misogynistic fat-shaming ha-wite man think this was a good idea? It is not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Rewrite the chorus to the \u2018desperate women\u2019 song.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    It\u2019s not my favorite, but I understand that desire to have a\nsong showing that Sam is receiving endless letters from desperate women who\nheard him on the radio. Fine. But it was not funny, and it should be funny.\nIt\u2019s fine to have them sing their individual desperate letters but the \u2018running\nout of time\u2019 and \u2018my eggs are dying\u2019 lyrics in the chorus are so cringey, as\nwas the unnecessary boob-grabbing. Actually that third woman\u2019s whole thing\nseemed icky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Rethink the hairdos.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Annie has shoulder-length bouncy blonde hair\u2026as does the\nwoman playing Victoria??…as\ndoes Dr Marsha Fieldstone??…as do at least two other ensemble members? (Every\nwoman is blonde in this.)This theatre is a g-d barn, and even from my great\nseat they all looked exactly the same. That\u2019s bad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • Stop repeating the chorus from the opening number like it\u2019s a life-altering motif.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        I get that it\u2019s your big theme, but it\u2019s not a special\nenough lyric or melody, and even if it was special, nothing is strong enough to\nwithstand repeating it a dozen times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        • Cut down the traffic.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          I mean this for both on and off stage. It\u2019s an enormous\ntheatre and stage, and honestly, it should be an intimate show. They used\nprojections but no sets. Sets would help, but even if you keep the staging how\nit is, the amount of stage used can be cut. There were so many moments of just\nwatching people walk in silence across the stage and I was like, what. Bring\nthe wings in closer or something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Also, I have never seen so much traffic in the audience.\nSince it\u2019ll be in the same theatre in March, tell the house staff not to reseat\npeople who get up to get drinks every 10 minutes until proper points. It was\nhonestly ridiculous. It contributes to an informal atmosphere where people\nthink it\u2019s cool to talk to their friends the whole time. Actually, people\ninvolved with the production were sitting in front of me, and they were talking\nway too much too. Really pissed me off. I kept imagining what would happen if I\nsaid \u201chey can you please stop talking so much?\u201d They would turn around and the\nbrunette would say, \u201cum, we\u2019re with the show\u201d, to which I would quote Chidi and\nsay \u201cbut that\u2019s worse\u2026you see how that\u2019s worse, right?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          • Cut the line about British people sounding smarter even when they\u2019re vomiting.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Ugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            • Cut the line that ruined an otherwise great ending.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              I like that you knew people wanted the ending to be as close to the movie as possible, and it delivered. It was very well done, although there should<\/em> be a song somewhere (maybe before the three characters meet at the top of the ESB, with Jonah singing his way there and Sam singing his way there and Annie singing her way there and they all overlap slowly and then go full Les Mis that would be awesome). But the last-second joke about playing tennis? Nnnnnnnno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              THE NEUTRAL<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              I don\u2019t understand why the time period is the same as the movie \u2013 it adds nothing, and the weird book scene about computers vs. typewriters is pointless. It wouldn\u2019t change it too much to modernize the setting. But I guess it doesn\u2019t hurt to keep it. It\u2019s just whatever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              <\/p>\n\n\n\n

              THE GOOD<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              • I may not have loved the opening song, but that opening scene immediately made me cry?? Wtf. It was really well done and just subtle enough. Honestly, every scene with Sam and Jonah was nearly perfect and captured real emotion. Both actors were great, so kudos for finding a non-annoying child actor. I really enjoyed Michael D. Xavier\u2019s Sam, and I\u2019m glad he gets to show off his voice. Kimberly Walsh is good too but deserves the same chance to really show off with a more defined character.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                • I LOVE love the decision to add the new composite character of Sam\u2019s friend babysitting Jonah all the time instead of having the Jessica role (and the Victor Garber role?).\u00a0 No one could capture what Gabby Hoffman did, and you don\u2019t want to deal with more kids, so it\u2019s a great decision. Their rapport was fun and necessary comic relief. An excellent change. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n
                  • I honestly don\u2019t understand it, but the best acting moment in the entire show came from Sam\u2019s sister and brother-in-law, who had\u2026two lines. Give them more? Bring the rest of the book up to that level?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                    This show was a lot of fun and it could be great. I\u2019m really impressed by the decisions made in what to keep from the movie and what to change, so I have hope that more great decisions will be made. Call me if you need me but ya know don’t call me but call me if you need me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    INFORMATION<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    Troubadour Theatre\n Wembley Park\nis out in, you guessed it, Wembley Park.\nIt\u2019s right near a location of the BoxPark food hall so that\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    This theatre, man alive, has THE BEST BATHROOMS I\u2019ve ever seen in a theatre. Like stadium style (endless rows! I think at least 40 stalls?) but with nice d\u00e9cor and sinks so it doesn\u2019t look like a stadium. NO LINES. Also, the bar had several pitchers of water that they ALWAYS kept full. Please make the West End learn from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    With a 7:45pm\nstart time, Act 1 ended at 20:48,\nand the second act was just under an hour. Perfect length. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    There was a good dog in the lobby. I pet him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                    It\u2019s Theatre Thursday! Today\u2019s show is Sleepless, the musical based on the movie \u201cSleepless in Seattle\u201d, which ran in London this past weekend for three performances, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[147],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"yoast_head":"\n