There's another musical part coming up which he'd be great for - Dorian Gray. I'd love to see evil Darius, still handsome and suave though.

 

Or how aboput those rumours that Britney's coming over to play Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire? Darius could play Marlon's role.

 

Britney and Darius on the same stage together - that would be a real frenzy for the media.

I feel Darius lacks the appearance of innocense that Dorian requires. I think Britney lacks the height to play opposite Darius.

I'd forgotten about those mischievous eyes.

I think Jonny Dep'd be good in it though.

A poster on Broadwayworld.com has written a review of last night's show - he only gave it a C+!! If anyone is curious about 'who sings what' he has listed all the songs but not much about what he thought of the performances individually (except Ashley). It seems there was a mulfunction with one of the props last night and they had to stop the show and start again!! :D

 

Julie

The kids would love that.

But not necessarily with Darius.

 

And not necessarily without ;)

 

If Darius is asked to play on Broadway I can't imagine him turning down the opportunity.

http://westend.broadwayworld.com/board/rea...4&boardid=3

 

its a long interesting review, enlightened me to the songs(so if you dont want to know them don't click the link)

 

 

someone had posted after asking how Darius was - I went back expecting to see something bad, as the long review hadnt mentioned Darius at all, but this was the post he put up in reply..

 

 

Darius was phenomenal. He and Jill had great sexual chemistry and his voice was like velvet. My problem with Darius, and actually most of this production, is that it seems to be an exact replica of the movie. It leads me to question if these actors were directed to mimic the screen? Because if Darius was, he was spot on Clark Gable. Dashing. Swooned women. Dreamy. He was just a treat. They should have cast someone less sexually electrifying as Ashley Wilkes though. The makeout scenes between him and Scarlett, are just as powerful as the ones with Rhett. So you don't see a contrast between the love she encountered with both men.

 

 

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Thanks, pip.

 

Most members of the GBP have never read Gone With The Wind and so to them Rhett is Clark and Scarlett, Vivien. I think it's a great credit to Jill and Darius if they can get close to those performances and deliver their songs strongly.

 

It seems strange to me that the audience failed to clap so many songs and I wondered if it was another Razzle Dazzle syndrome. I so wanted to applaud it to the rafters in Chicago but the trial had started before i could get my hands together.

 

 

The same points come up all the time - the cast are really talented, the sets are good, costumes sumptuous, lighting excellent, the actual groupings of the actors onstage and the use of the auditorium are great

 

BUT the whole production is let down by the overuse of narration which gets on nerves and the songs are too bland and forgettable.

Edited April 11, 200817 yr by Baytree

thanks to rachel .net

from the Mail

Baz

 

 

TREVOR NUNN has been cutting back Gone With The Wind. The first preview ran a tad over four hours but by Monday, Nunn had chopped 18 minutes. He wants a running time of 3hrs 15mins, not including the interval, by tomorrow. Then he can really refine and cut back some more. Jill Paice as Scarlett O’Hara has the rich red earth of Tara under her fingernails and is compelling. Darius Danesh is giving an impersonation of Clark Gable, but Nunn will knock that out of him and make him play Rhett Butler, as he should be. By the way, it’s not a musical, it’s a play with music. The story is exciting. Opening night is April 22.

 

I wonder if he has seen this, or if he has looked through some reviews somewhere.

I would have thought Trevor would have guided Darius away from impersonating Gable - or is it that Rhett was described the way Gable played him, and not having read the book Baz doesnt know the character's description, lets face it Gable had a tash..Gable smoked cigars so anyone seeing the film would think gable was being himself, rather than adhering to the books decription of Rhett..but what was RHETT like in the book - Darius' Southern voice is nothing like Gables, I can still hear Gables rough twang in my head as he had a very distinctive voice, aided by the heavy smoking!! I didnt get any himt of Gable on POG

Thanks, pip.

 

Most members of the GBP have never read Gone With The Wind and so to them Rhett is Clark and Scarlett, Vivien. I think it's a great credit to Jill and Darius if they can get close to those performances and deliver their songs strongly.

 

It seems strange to me that the audience failed to clap so many songs and I wondered if it was another Razzle Dazzle syndrome. I so wanted to applaud it to the rafters in Chicago but the trial had started before i could get my hands together.

The same points come up all the time - the cast are really talented, the sets are good, costumes sumptuous, lighting excellent, the actual groupings of the actors onstage and the use of the auditorium are great

 

BUT the whole production is let down by the overuse of narration which gets on nerves and the songs are too bland and forgettable.

 

 

You're right BT. Some of the best songs couldn't be applauded because it'd have gone over someone else's part. This production is still too full to allow many pauses for applause. Very frustrating when one of the best songs has just been sang very well.

Rhett in the book is how Darius plays him.

surely that is how its meant to be, you cannot expect everything to stop while an audience clap every song in a musical, there are times when there seems to be a pause after a song so people clap, otherwise the action is ongoing and you are involved watching the show.

Glad to hear that, Megham - I thought as much, most people will have seen the movie and not read the book,

Edited April 11, 200817 yr by prettyinpink

good friend of Dorothy« Listen To Your Heart

Gone With The Wind; New London Theatre

April 11, 2008

A classic love story blown onto the London stage.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, perhaps the first thing that springs to mind when you think of this production is the time-span that you, as an audience member, need to be willing to invest in it. Having never been able to sit through the entire 1939 film in one sitting, I was expecting for this to be either a rather reduced production, or else extraordinarily long; all or nothing as it were. As it stands, the production itself is pretty much the exact same length of the film, at 3 hrs 45 minutes. I happened to be speaking to one of the principal cast members on the bus home the night before and she informed me that twenty minutes of the production had already been cut due to concerns about the length of the production. I am not entirely sure that the West End audiences can cope with a performance that ends at around 23:30 each evening, especially those with young children – and I did notice a fair proportion of people slipping out of the theatre around the 22:00 – 22:30 mark.

 

Although comments about the length of the production were the main thing on people’s lips as they were leaving the theatre, one would hope that last night’s audience are now suitably adjusted to this ‘culture-shock’ and are now turning their attention back to what they saw on stage and have formed an opinion on the production itself as well.

 

My opinion of this production is generally a positive one. As one would expect with a production of such a length, there are occasional lulls in the action/story every now and then, but there are plenty of high points too which I felt carried the production over-all. I felt that the original story was done justice by this production and that it suited this adventurous new medium of the West End stage, and the Gone With The Wind fanatic in front of me was clearly (and vocally!) impressed!

 

The stage itself at the New London is quite unique for a large London Theatre and I felt that the stage design for this show adapted well to the theatre. I wasn’t a huge fan of the continued usage of cast members parading through the audience, although again, I can see how this was necessary to retain the production values of the show and the challenges of working to a stage that is semi-in-the-round.

 

The production on this show was fairly subtle and nicely done. There aren’t really too many wow moments (except for when they set fire to items on stage), however with a continually changing set and a barrage of props and costume changes, coupled with a rather large and talented cast, there’s certainly enough going on to keep one captivated and focused on the story.

 

Regarding the cast, I was pleasantly surprised I must say. I went into the production having already seen several theatre shows with Ray Shell (Pork) and Jeff Shankley (John Wilkes) and so because of this I was expecting a strong cast from the outset, though I think that Darius Danesh (Rhett Butler) excelled himself with his fantastic accent and stage presence, as did Jill Paice (Scarlet O’Hara) who provided most of the drama throughout the production. My favourite character however, was Mammy played by Natasha Yvette Williams, who had great stage presence and a powerful set of lungs on her to belt out her songs where appropriate.

 

On the subject of the songs, I didn’t find them particularly memorable or engaging and saw this production as more of a drama which happened to have a few songs in it. Of course, there were one or two fantastic ones, though I feel that this production would have worked equally as well without any musical aspect to it at all.

 

In summation, I found this to be an enjoyable well-meaning production which will hopefully remain in the West-End for a good number of months, which it certainly should be able to do, providing that the theatre-going public continue to be willing to invest four hours to watch it. Good press reviews will be key to drawing in theatre-goers and getting people over the ‘but it’s 4 hours long’ thing!

 

A suitably lengthy review for a suitably lengthy show. Too long you say?

 

Frankly my dear, I couldn’t give a damn.

 

Is Baz really suggesting that somehow in 6 weeks rehearsal Darius has manged to totally ignore Trevor Nunn's direction and done his own thing and Trevor Nunn hasn't noticed yet. What an unlikely scenario.

 

I can't see how it would be possible to interpret Rhett much differently since he is fully described every time he appears in the book - not just "he smiles" but the kind of smile he smiles, every raise of his eyebrows is documented and any change of expression at key moments too.

 

Baz was at the first preview on Saturday.

at least he went - but it shows his ignorance IMO, he has seen the film I suppose, or at least knows of Gables parts but has no idea of the actual character of Rhett as described in the book, My betting is he hasnt read the book otherwise he would know Rhett is being represented as in the book, not just the film - obviously Gable must have been pretty much spot on in portraying Rhetts character, shame it went to waste if people think Gable was being Gable..and now Darius portraying Rhett as he is in the book is being seen as being Gable

If the production is following the book Trevor would have nipped any impersonation of film characters in the bud! as you say, I just feel it shows the lack of research or knowledge of GWTW Baz has, to be expected I suppose...

But Baz takes some of the sting away from his colleagues hatred of Darius and lets people know that the show and Darius would be good to see.

 

His colleages article, if you take the 'I hate Darius and I should be a dumb blonde bit out', is actually quite good. It's a shame she has the attention span of a gold fish but, it must be worse for her than us.

I hope this is mot a theme the reviews are going to take where they pick up from others articles. A lot of these critics dont even go to the show.

What theme? That 27 year old Darius can match a great Hollywood actor at his peak in his fifth or sixth attempt at a scene, spot on live every night on stage?

 

I'd say that those who read the book want the Rhett and Scarlett depicted there. David O Selznik sweated blood to ensure that's what the movie audience got, eg shooting the porch scene with Scarlett another 5 times at the very end of the filming.

 

Trevor Nunn went a stage further- he got himself the black haired, tall man with the mischievous bold black eyes although, he had to compromise and go for a younger guy.

 

I was re-reading the "casualty" list scene and Scarlett watches Rhett's "heavy shoulders towering above the crowd as he went through" . At 6 ft 4 Darius can really tower.