There is a first preview on WOS. Darius comes out of it very well but the running times was four hours and ten minutes so obviously a lot of pruning to be done.

 

Quote from a longer review -

 

in terms of the performances - jill paice is stunning. she is on stage for all of the first act and most of the second. she must have been exhausted. her performance was spot on. darius deanesh - he has a real stage presence - helped by the fact he is about 6" taller than the tallest person in the cast. his voice is stunning. also worth a metion is natasha williams as mammy

Edited April 9, 200817 yr by prettyinpink

From Wos (as found by Preston)

 

at the start of the performance ? trevor nunn (i think he has had a haircut and a shave!) came on stage saying that this was the first preview and that the current running time was 3 hours and 45 minutes, and that if you were leaving before the end please do so quietyly - the actual running time was 4 hours and 10 minutes including the interval and the show came down at 11.40pm

 

the two women in front of me left not even 20 minutes into the show, and by the end there must have been 100+ empty seats. this must be the only ocassion that you could ever see the show in its absolute entirity! there is plenty which can be pruned to cut the running time, and sir trevor was sitting in front of me, and he wrote reams during the first act

 

this is very much a show of two halfs. the first long and plodding which was more a play with music. the second act is certainly the tighest and musically the strongest - i think most of the cutting will be in the first act. considering that this is a musical, there was a good 20 minutes in the first act of just dialogue

 

the book does nothing to help the production. they have used the ensemble and in places the leads to give an unneeded 3rd person narration which does nothing to help the production and slows things up. they should trust us as an audience to know what is going on without being told

 

the design which comprises mainly of a thurst stage, a revolving central 'building' and two moving plaforms which come on from the wings. these are pushed on and pulled off - it wouldnt have been difficult of that costly to have these trucked on - it would have made things much smoother, and if you are going to have a stage crew pushing them on and off, stick them into period costume so that they at least look part of the action. at one point you could see one of the stage crew sitting stage left in the wings picking her nose! somewhat off putting!!

 

the music and lyrics in the first act is largely forgotten and unmemorable. the second act much stronger. the lighting is very dark and the staging in a similar style to les mis

 

in terms of the performances - jill paice is stunning. she is on stage for all of the first act and most of the second. she must have been exhausted. her performance was spot on. darius deanesh - he has a real stage presence - helped by the fact he is about 6" taller than the tallest person in the cast. his voice is stunning. also worth a metion is natasha williams as mammy

 

the weak link was madeline worrell as melanie. she must have missed all of the rehearsals with the dialect coach as she spoke in perfect rsc english for the entire show and she expressed emotion by gurning at the audience

 

the bits that really didnt work where the bits where they had a voice and miming for the scenes with rhet and scarletts child (they could have done this with a puppet if nothing else like they used in brief encounter or war horse) and the scene with prissy and scarlett trying to get melanie away when she had the baby - they could have used something along the lines of the horses from war horse rather than miming the rocking of the cart

 

overall i would give it a 7/10 and this is largely due to the two leading performances. trevor nunn needs to cut at least 30 minutes off the running time, and i would suspect that they change the performances to a 7pm start. unless they cut something before the first matinee they will be coming down as the house opens for the second performance! make sure you know what you night buses home are, and get there in plenty of time as they have cocked up the seating plan - the rows have been mislabelled in places and some seats (especially n46 in the stalls dont exist!)

 

i would give it a run of 6 months

 

 

From Broadway World (as found by Julie)

 

It's late and I'm a very tired blogger who can't be ar*ed to do his full review right now. The minimum that people need to know:

 

-Current runtime is 4 hours 6 minutes including interval.

-There will be cuts.

-Cast are fine. Not amazing, but fine.

-The score is boring. Some laughably bad lines like "Wounded soldiers are physical wrecks, but at least they're members of the opposite sex".

-There is a LOT of narrating. Everybody takes turns spewing dates and season changes and announcing the locations.

-They really tried to incorporate everything from the book. Events need to go because it drags.

-Lots of preaching. One song is "Every child just wants to be loved."

-The set is initially impressive, but pretty minimal by Napier's standards. In the end it's as dull as everything else.

-The audience were racing like mad to catch their trains. Hopefully the cast made it home as well. Still, the audience seemed to dig it in general.

-They hired child actors to appear in two scenes.

-The act break is roughly in the middle of part 3 from the original novel.

-Did I mention the whole four hour thing?

 

 

interesting, I hope it has been cut down when I see it, I think they could do away with loads by the sounds of it - cut it down to any scene with Rhett in woukld suit me fine!

The poster on Broadwayworld.com has elaborated his review, if you click onto the link at the bottom of his post.

 

He was obviously one of the Darius doubters....... ' all the cast, including Darius Danesh, were fine, not amazing, but fine' :D

 

Julie

Is this the link?

 

http://roguezentradi.blogspot.com/2008/04/...-with-wind.html

 

Just checked. It's the same blog.

 

I think a lot of people on American based sites who were sceptic/downright negative about the casting of Darius were either disappointed the rumour about Hugh Jackman wasn't true or were responding to unflattering UK posts about Darius from Popstars/PI not Darius the MT performer.

Edited April 6, 200817 yr by Baytree

As long as people bear in mind this is the first preview, seems this guy has and the other poster on whatsonstage, lets hope any press critics there will hold off till they see the show proper.

If Darius(yes even) Darius was fine, and his voice stunning - on the first showing - I think he will be fantastic as he settles into the role, like in his other roles he jsut got better and better according to those who went at different times.

I was one of those who saw Darius at the beginning, middle and end of his Chicago runs and although he was really good on first night - came in on cue, knew all his lines, sang note perfect - he began to stamp his personality on the role.

 

As you know I was away for a lot of his Guys and Dolls run but I did see him early in Liverpool (30th May?) and I thought he was brilliant. I caught him first night at Edinburgh and he was absolutely superb. You could see that he had a great relationship with Sean and Louise.

 

Louise was lovely and they looked like a couple in love, but I would have so liked to have seen Darius play the role just once with a taller leading lady.

 

 

Well, Jill seems tall enough.

Edited April 6, 200817 yr by Bramley

Yes, she is, thankfully.

 

 

The second half was absolutely brilliant. Darius, Jill, Edward and NaTasha were fantastic. Darius' voice is just incredible and, the second half shows just how good an actor he is. You think you know how good Darius ‘voice is but, it’s even better than that. For me, Melanie is miscast though and Aunt Pittypat. It'd be hard to care about Melanie. It made the scene when she died not a tearful one - a shame since, in the book, it was one that had me in tears. Madeleine was fine but just not Melanie – she is a good actress.

The two ‘slave’ songs were excellent and showed of the immensely powerful and emotional voices of the cast. The cast worked really well together and there was a lot of action. Running to find a docter when Melanie’s baby was on the way was done really well but, the going to Tara was a bit of a drag. The burning of Atlanta was more of a flicker than furnace. Still, they probably couldn’t afford to rebuild the theatre every night ready for the next day.

 

The first half lost a lot of people but, we were warned that it was a preview and there would be changes. There was a lot of slack in this half. No buzz or sense of excitement. The going to war songs ( Join The Troop?) by the men and then the sad song by the women about the men going were good. I just don’t really know why this half was lacking. Some people went in the interval and they missed a treat. Maybe with the problem of the lack of trains and the warning that it was going to be VERY long, people just couldn’t risk not getting home. I don't think they've cast Bonnie yet. Darius was great with the two children who were already cast and the pleasure in their faces showed that they got on well. Again, it showed Darius' ability that he could talk to and sing to a woolly hat and play with an invisible child and you were still with him.

 

Whatever happens to the first half – and whatever changes they incorporate, it’s just a bonus. The second half, all by itself, is so worth seeing. Don’t bother reading the book though. There was humour in it and pathos and I could have carried on watching it. The second half sets a great pace.

 

I can't wait to go back but, at the moment, I'm a bit worried about getting home again. It was worse on Saturday because there was work being done and trains replaced by buses but, we only just made the last train. That was with getting out at full speed and galloping over the bridge. The first half really needs to be tightened.

 

It didn't feel too long, the second half went in a flash. It just made getting home very difficult. Having a just turned 13 yr old with me made it more worrying. We finally got her home just after 2am and that was only because some kind people we met gave us a lift.

 

I am so glad I’ve seen this preview; it was how I feel an early preview should be. I can’t wait to see what the finished product will be like. It bodes really well for a first class show. I wasn’t bowled over by the first half but, it was still better than many a show I’ve seen. The second half is outstanding. The show can only get better and I can’t wait to see it again.

 

 

Thanks Meg, cant wait. Apparently someone from the daily mail was there,hope he stayed for the second half. If they can get the first half right, it sound like a great show and am just waiting for the doubters for Darius to climb down but I bet they wont.

Thank you, megham. You can't have had very much sleep.

 

I'm glad that you enjoyed the show, or at least the second part. Does it begin where the second part of the film does - with Scarlett's return to Tara?

 

Do they deviate much from the book in the second act?

 

 

Is it too much of a spoiler to ask how many songs D sings/part sings?

 

I wonder if something technical went wrong with the burning of Atlanta.

Edited April 6, 200817 yr by Baytree

I hope trevor nunn doesnt see fit to change the second half instead of the first half as someone else has posted on WOS that the first half is slow but the second half is great so hope he gets the message.

Thanks Meg, cant wait. Apparently someone from the daily mail was there,hope he stayed for the second half. If they can get the first half right, it sound like a great show and am just waiting for the doubters for Darius to climb down but I bet they wont.

 

 

I'll watch out for flying pigs.

 

Thanks Meg. We know that you have no axe to grind, so your assessment is more valuable than

the earlier ones. I'm looking forward to seeing the show.

thanks, megham - things look good if Trevir trims the first half, and the narrating then really. I am so glad Darius done good! for a first night preview that is fantastic

Darius does sing. He really is good in the second half. I lost track though. That is a real plus. I was involved with the second half and it just carried me on. It meant that it was over far too quickly. Darius' voice is perfect for this role. Edward's was for his too. Darius sang his lullaby twice. A short peice of another in the first half - lengthened in the second. The duet was great and so were his olos in the second half. I know I was told to remember, but, I watched instead.

 

Pam may remember it in more seperate detail.

I hope she was making notes.LOL

 

 

I think she may have been watching too. You were quite enclosed and involved with in in the front. We had a walkway next to us and no way out on that side. There were people on the top layer shouting out from the side circle bits and the upper level of the stage.