Two recent theatre trips
Apr. 24th, 2008 10:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lovingbothContains Violence Lyric Hammersmith
Utterly genius idea - the audience watch what's going on in a building across the square from the theatre's outside balcony. Binoculars and headphones are provided. Rear Window, voyeurism.. how can it go wrong?
Well, I'd seen a couple of reviews which suggested it had, so I went with fairly low expectations, but even so it's the biggest missed opportunity since the last time the England football team were in a penalty shoot-out. The author has managed to make murder and bisexual desire boring, argh.
But remember, it's not over until the penguin tidies up. If you can last that long, which most of the audience didn't.
Into the Hoods
A hip-hop adaptation of the fabulous Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods? Well it was either going to be great or a disaster, so I had to see which.
And the answer is neither, really. If Sondheim and Lapine get any of the royalties for this, they should think themselves lucky - virtually nothing is taken from Woods. The first half is more or less the same as the second, for example.
Having said that the dancing is very good, but then it's basically an 'urban' ballet to an assortment of hip-hop tracks. With the exception of someone who comes on stage at the start to perform a couple of poems, I reckon everyone is miming to a pre-recorded soundtrack.
But the dancing is great, and the kids in particular will be up for awards.
Utterly genius idea - the audience watch what's going on in a building across the square from the theatre's outside balcony. Binoculars and headphones are provided. Rear Window, voyeurism.. how can it go wrong?
Well, I'd seen a couple of reviews which suggested it had, so I went with fairly low expectations, but even so it's the biggest missed opportunity since the last time the England football team were in a penalty shoot-out. The author has managed to make murder and bisexual desire boring, argh.
But remember, it's not over until the penguin tidies up. If you can last that long, which most of the audience didn't.
Into the Hoods
A hip-hop adaptation of the fabulous Stephen Sondheim musical Into the Woods? Well it was either going to be great or a disaster, so I had to see which.
And the answer is neither, really. If Sondheim and Lapine get any of the royalties for this, they should think themselves lucky - virtually nothing is taken from Woods. The first half is more or less the same as the second, for example.
Having said that the dancing is very good, but then it's basically an 'urban' ballet to an assortment of hip-hop tracks. With the exception of someone who comes on stage at the start to perform a couple of poems, I reckon everyone is miming to a pre-recorded soundtrack.
But the dancing is great, and the kids in particular will be up for awards.
