General Chat

Yes Lynda - we've seen it, it was excellent. We took hubbys son and my daughter as teenagers and they loved it too. They were even more thrilled because we got chatting to one of the stars afterwards. I can't remember her name, will have to ask hubby. He's in bed though, where I'm just off:))

Oh Chriisy what a shame you didn't like it, I loved Miss Saigon, enough to see it 3 times, can only assume that the London version was better cast. Can't remember if I asked before, but have either of you seen Blood Brothers? Cried and cried at that I did, even the 2nd time I saw it and knew what was about to happen. Lots of men in the audience cried openly as well, very moving and superbly acted. Lynda

LOL !!!

I'm glad I've seen it though Lucy - I hate to miss anything :))

Oh dear, thats a real shame - sorry you didn't enjoy it as much as I did. perhaps as you say, the London version may have been cast better. Lucy x

Hi Lucy Sorry I haven't commented before but I didn't want to sound like a killjoy:)) Hubby didn't like it at all and I only liked some of it. We both felt that what was supposed to come over as love between the American and the Vietnamese girl, came over more as just a sexual thing. It was apparently a new production and I think that they could have cut it by half an hour. There were times when I was studying the scenery. I did think the helicopter scene was fantastic though and I enjoyed the 'dancing'. We also thought that there were only a couple of good songs in it and the rest was just singing words to the same tune. It wasn't terribly well cast either. I would have liked to see the London version that everyone talks about though. Sorry. Chrissie x

Chrissie Smiff....where are you? Its now past the end of September and I'm dying to know if you enjoyed Miss Saigon? Please come and tell....... Lucy x

Hi theatre goers! Went to see Grease at Southampton a few weeks back - it was the last night and it was great. Made all the better by the fact that you knew just about every word to every song!! Really good fun show with some breathtaking hand jive going on!! Strange thing though - nobody got out of their seats to dance! (me included I must add!!) Went to see Saturday Night Fever last week at the Apollo in London and have to say I was a tad disappointed - for the cast more than anything. Only the downstairs was open as not enough seats sold and quite a lot of downstairs seats had 'no bums on em'. Did enjoy the show but when its tour reaches Southampton I probably won't go again. Lucy x

Hi Lynda I thought that I had better come on the proper thread to tell you that a friend said it was brilliant and went to see it again. I have left my thanks for your kind offer on my awful thought thread :)) Chrissie x

Anybody seen Grease on stage, what did you think? Lynda

Hi Lynda Couldn't keep away :)) Would love to take you but I don't think Mr Smifffff would be too pleased - it was him who persuaded me to go LOL. In fact, it will probably be him whose doing most of the blinking:)) Lucy - will do. Of course, I shall blame you if I don't like it LOL Chrissie xx

Chrissie - so glad you're going to give it a try - I'm sure you'll love it - just remember to have a tissue to hand. Let us know via this brill thread if you enjoy it won't you? Lucy x

Ohhhh Chrissie Smifffffff where you bin luv, nice to see ya. You will love Miss Saigon, seen it 3 times, cried everytime, but what a musical, fab songs, will have to get me CD out now for old times sake. The last time I went, I went on a special offer with the Times, and we had a backstage tour, that was so interesting, then dinner after the show. Will watch out for it coming my way, would defiantly see it again, don't fancy taking me with you do you, instead of Mr Smifffffff :)))) Lynda x x x

If you look at page 4 you will see that I was reluctant to see Miss Saigon as I thought it would be too sad. However, Lucy persuaded me that I ought to go and we have booked for end of September. So watch this space Lucy:)) Chrissie

Thanks for adding to this thread Lucy, I thought it was dead and gone. I bet if you had got up and danced someone else would of done as well, us Brits don't like to be the first up, but get someone else to do it and we follow :)) Glad you enjoyed it. Hope others who have been to the theatre lately add to this now. I like seeing what others think of a show before I see it. Lynda

Maz - it must be that good old stiff upper lip thingy!! so scared we're gonna make a fool of ouselves!!!

Maz - it must be that good old stiff upper lip thingy!! so scared we're gonna make a fool of ouselves!!!

Lucy - I was surprised like that when I went to see Mamma Mia - was desperate to get up and dance, but everyone else was very staidly watching! Didn't dare get up in case I got hissed at!! Maz. XX

Went to the last night of 'Grease' last Saturday night at the Mayflower in Southampton. Thoroughly enjoyed it - made all the better that every word of every song was familiar! One surprise though - not one person got out of their seat to dance! Lucy x

Hi Lynda As promised, my opinion of the two plays that I saw at the Stephen Joseph theatre in Scarborough at the weekend. On Saturday we saw 'Going Dutch', the new comedy by John Godber. It was very funny and extremely well done, not least because of the brilliant casting of Gemma Craven in one of the lead roles. There is some bad language in it but it was neccessary. Sally and Mark are cruising to Amsterdam as a treat for Mark's 50th birthday and have invited an old girl friend of Sally's along too. Unfortunately, she turns up with a new boyfriend who she met whilst prison visiting. He is a pot smoking thug and the play revolves around whether they can bear to be with him any longer, or whether they should make their escape. There is one particular scene which steals the show and brought it to a halt with applause for Gemma. Whilst they are on a bike ride, the thug, in an attempt to 'loosen' Sally up, offers her a slice of 'Amsterdam cake' and thinking that it is ordinary cake she eats the lot. She then can't understand why her legs have gone numb and spends the next 5 minutes attempting to stand up and get back on her bike. Gemma was particularly brilliant at this. It could easily be done by amateurs in the future, due to a very minimilist set but would need very good actors as the characters need to be well portrayed. I once met and spoke to John Godber at a workshop he gave in Nottingham, about a play that he had written 'Fly me to the moon' for amateurs to perform first and which our group were about to do. He said that he always writes from experience, so he must have had some strange experiences:)) On monday night, by complete contrast, we saw the new Alan Ayckbourn comedy 'Improbable Fiction'. This play is set around 'The Pendon Writers Circle' and the first half is completely taken up by setting the scene and introducing the characters, many of which were very well drawn. Hubby and I both felt that this was too dragged out and by the interval hubby was saying 'well, you can't win them all'. However, the second act turned out to be very funny, mainly because this too was very well done. I can't tell you why as it would spoil it for anyone going to see it. Although this play was somewhat of an anti climax after the John Godber play, it was nevertheless saved by the funny but rather strange second act. Chrissie x