Lets hope we only get nice article's now.

The dreamer bit is taking you over dd. Now come on, when has that ever happened. Doesn't detract from the fact that he is just so good.

I did say hope but you never know :unsure:

Well we can see from today how it will be - more of the same! If it's positive, omit it and if it's negative exaggerate it and then regurgitate it as many times as you can. And that's just the Scottish press.

thats sounds all too familiar,

and yet .....................no-one can deny Darius has not just survived but can still win through and warrant international media attention.

Ive booked :yahoo: Im all excited now :dance:

Congrats. Are you going to a preview?

thats great! I am glad I booked- I just can't wait

I'm going on the 26th to the matinee

I think some others on .net are going then so you'll see some friendly faces. Who knows one of them might yet be me.

I can't do weekends as Dave works and I can't leave his Dad.

From The Alternate

 

Danesh excited about "breakthrough" production

First published 14 Feb 2008

 

Co-stars Paice and Danesh

enjoy a break from rehearsals

It is somewhat fitting that the musical adaptation of one of the world’s most famous romantic novels, Gone With The Wind, should start rehearsals in the same week as St Valentine’s Day. And there was a lot of love in the room at the Jerwood Space yesterday, when leads Darius Danesh and Jill Paice discussed the project with select members of the press, releasing titbits of information to keep the anticipating public guessing.

 

“If you can imagine all the most creative people in show business and theatre in one room; the best creative team of stage, the most incredible musicians and music directors and one of the greatest living stage directors of all time, all in one room, meeting for the first time with a cast of over 30 – it was an incredibly exciting and very moving first day of a journey that began 10 years ago when Margaret [Martin]originally sat down to writing the stage adaptation.” So said Danesh, in his softened Glaswegian tones that will be transformed into the twang of the Deep South of America when he takes to the New London stage as Rhett Butler in April.

 

Danesh, who will be creating a musical character for the first time, having previously stepped into the roles of Billy Flynn in Chicago and Sky Masterson in Guys And Dolls, is clearly excited about the project and has put his third pop album on hold while he prepares for the new production: “It’s a great challenge as an actor to take on a role that’s so well known. However I do it with the good grace of the direction and the belief of an incredible man like [director] Trevor Nunn.”

 

On stage he is joined by Paice, who returns to London where she previously originated the role of Laura Fairlie in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Woman In White, which was also directed by Nunn. Paice also took the Lloyd Webber show to Broadway where, more recently, she has been starring opposite David Hyde Pierce in Curtains. Her stage experience will, no doubt, be drawn upon by Danesh, who is already taken by his co-star. “It’s a great joy to be able to work with an accomplished and inspiring and wonderfully humble and very gorgeous actress,” he commented, “who has had the fortune of success not just in the West End but on Broadway.”

 

The production is based on Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, rather than the multi-Oscar winning film. Margaret Martin has provided the book and lyrics, with adaptation by Nunn, as well as the music. The famous tale is set in 1860s Georgia at the start of the American Civil War. On an idyllic farm the perfect lives of the O’Hara family, and eldest daughter Scarlett, are smashed by the fighting. Over a decade of American history the relationship of Scarlett with Rhett Butler mirrors the peace and conflict of a nation, as an entire way of life is changed forever.

 

Though the cast have only just met to begin rehearsals, the creative process to bring the musical to the stage is nearing completion. The pair were keeping tight-lipped about what audiences can expect, but Danesh promised a unique “breakthrough” in terms of staging that is currently being constructed at the New London, and Paice hinted at a reserved set design: “I think what’s great about our production is it is sort of scaled down. It is an epic story but a lot of it’s going to be left to the imagination, but a wonderful imagination, and we’re going to help you along the way. I can guarantee you that it is going to be a fabulous evening of theatre.”

 

Gone With The Wind opens at the New London on 22 April following previews from 4 April.

 

I've just been told that he's on the front of Edinburgh's Metro paper.

Thanks,megham.

 

I'm not sure what to make of the contradiction between the wondeful stage and scaled back. are they trying to keep us guessing?

yes, confusing..perhaps a wonderful back drop and scenery - but not covering all the scenes in the book.

I am still toying with getting th ebook, perhaps now its been re-published. as I really don't seem to have any idea of the plot

I am still toying with getting th ebook, perhaps now its been re-published. as I really don't seem to have any idea of the plot

Try this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind

The book is scaled back. They can't really keep us in the theatre for the 3 or 4 weeks it'd take to get it all in. It certainly doesn't sound like the set is scaled down. Although I have a slight suspicion that they aren't going to burn the theatre.

Sir trevor nunns last musical was Woman in white from which came a no.3 in the charts for Duncan James. However regarding scenery etc thought you might like to see this.

 

Quote from wikepedia

 

The musical adaptation of the book opened in London's West End, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by David Zippel, and book by Charlotte Jones, freely adapted from the novel. Directed by Trevor Nunn, it opened Wednesday, 15 September 2004 at the Palace Theatre. It gained attention for its set design, which employed projections rather than traditional scenery. The scenery tended to divide audiences and critics; some found it innovative, but Ben Brantley of The New York Times likened it to being "trapped inside a floating upscale travel magazine."

 

Through its first year, the London production earned some criticism. Length was a major issue for many (the show clocked in approximately 3 hours, with both acts running 2 hours and 20 minutes, adding on a 15-minute interval besides) and the sets. The major problem with the projections was that they were far too dizzying, somewhat out of focus, and the revolve (or, turntable), was not in perfect sync with the projections. (The revolve was used to move the actors from one point of the stage to the other while the pictures behind them moved, giving the effect of a camera swooping about).

 

Hopefully it is not going to be like that. It opened on broadway with Michael Ball but closed after a short run.

Michael Crawford played the Count in Woman In White in London. he's on the cast recording.

 

The thing with GWTW is it's a very long book so however it's adapted, chunks have to left out. Some of that will be done by narration, we know.

 

There might be some projection but I hope it's not a lot - the burning of Atlanta maybe.

 

The battles could just be sounds off stage, couldn't they. Maybe a bit of Lincoln's speech for Gettysburg

 

The last time I saw Rebecca the only scenery was a big screen on which they projected images.

I knew the story well because I'd read the book and seen the BBC serial. I'm not sure I'd have enjoyed it otherwise. I like physical sets and scenery