B.P.

I love Spandau Ballet :) Met Tony Hadley in London. He was appearing in the 10th anniversary of Chicago, as well as Darius. I got a pic(although he was a little reluctant) and later took some more of him with the ladies from our Darius site(who also like Tony), who he was chatting with. Between the afternoon and evening show, he sat quietly in the pub for a good 45 mins having a pint and reading the paper. He was outside waiting for his wife and it transpired that she was waiting somewhere else for him :rolleyes: but it was good for us as we got the chance to meet him :) Love Me Tender :)

Don't you just hate it when people are too lazy to source things themselves :rolleyes: I think you might need to win a huge lottery to afford this one though ladies. It won't be going like the budgie I'm afraid :(

Loving the favourable reviews of D's performance :) I couldn't see D singing the lullaby, but there was a huge amount of emotion in the song, so it wouldn't surprise me if he was actually crying. I can't wait to see it again :) For me, the show didn't drag the first time, even though it was 4 hours and 5 mins. Even though I am returning I don't think it will drag on the 23rd either, particularly as they seem to have trimmed it by 30 mins. The only dissappointing thing in the whole show for me was that they didn't really portray Melanie as the incredibly kind hearted and forgiving character that she was in the film, and I would imagine as in the book, though I haven't read it. It would be nice to see her given a couple of tiny moments of kindness, in order to establish her character better.

Oh. maybe BT is correct then!

Whilst playing Rhett towards the end of the 2nd half, part of D's lines include him announcing he is 45, well it did on the Monday I went to see it. I suppose it could have been cut now, but I would be surprised if it had.

I think the royalty was for the phrase not just a word though BT. Although it has cost them a little, I feel many people would have been dissappointed not to hear it spoken, even though the musical is based more on the book than the film. I was pleased it was included :)

Thanks BT :)

Will they bid for it do you think?

The music and the how it accompany's the show is excellent, but I feel some of the songs aren't. D's first half songs are not really memorable, for me anyway. 2nd half is better :) Jill sings wonderfully, but again for me there are no real stand out songs that she sings. Mammy's solo stood out the most to me and the most impressive performance(D's lullaby apart, though I may be bias) comes when all the slaves are singing together, they sounded amazing! D's lullably is wonderful for how well he sings it and for the incredible emotion he injects into it! I am looking forward to seeing the show again :)

That might be why he struggled with one of the high notes in the first half. I hope he doesn't next time I go :(

I missed it too :rolleyes: I have tried to download 4 on demand, but I keep getting an error message about unable to register something :angry: The really annoying thing is I was free to watch it yesterday and just plain forgot to, yet again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :angry: I have no idea how I missed val4jadan's reminder here either, as i was on the forum several times :(

Laughing In The Rain I so hated the Colourblind 8 jam remix. I think the Rushes one was better but still not ever a favourite of mine.

I don't remeber Scarlett being present when she falls BT and I am pretty sure that line wasn't used, so I don't think so. She was there after though, to the best of my recollection. I will give it another look next time Meg, but I just didn't understand why there we 4-5 men following behind the man spinning her in mid air. I just didn't get that bit. For me, they could have cut to Rhett talking with Mammy or whoever was there at the time and then just had the child make a loud scream as she fell off. Far better IMO than this nonesense of a man carrying her across the stage in place of a horse.

For me, they could cut out the ridiculous parts where they are acting as if they are being pulled by or a horse or riding a horse. For the life of me, I can't think why we need to see them pretend to do this when there is narrative throughout the show that could mention this, saving time and saving the actors the embarrassment of having to look a little stupid IMO. I hope it's ok to include this specific bit of action from the show. Anyone not wanting to know this little bit, please stop reading here! The Bonnie fall is an excellent example of the above. The child actor is carried by one of the male cast, then twisted and turned upside down and finally left lying on the floor. The whole thing could be done without seeing this action, simply by mentioning she was riding and taking a jump, and then getting the young actress to make a loud scream, before moving onto to the slow motion scene. It would be much better IMO

I agree with you about Ashley Meg. Another thing about the play is Melanie isn't portrayed as much as the sweet character she is in the film, which makes Rhett's statement about her being the one person he knew to be truly kind seem somewhat out of the blue. It was for me anyway. A thought has just occurred to me about them cutting some of D's 2nd half performance. Do you think it may be because he is overshadowing Scarlett in this half and they want to balance it a little, as it is supposed to be her story after all, what do you think?

Sir Ian McCellan(not sure if I have the spelling correct) was in the audience just a few rows from us. I really wanted to ask him what he thought of D but I didn't want to put him on the spot or indeed interupt his evening out, so in the end i didn't ask. It would have been very interesting to hear his thoughts though, maybe next time I see him :D

Certainly not a fan, but not a detractor either. If I hadn't heard him sing before I saw him in GWTW I would be saying other people were better singers too(I think) although the lullaby must have won him a lot of hearts :) I think it's quite a positive view of D :)

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/GWTW/98.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/GWTW/99.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/GWTW/100.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/GWTW/101.jpg Darius was very good, but I know he will get even better, and I can't wait

This is all the photos I have, sorry I couldn't get more, but as I said, I will try my best next time :yes: http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/GWTW/94.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/GWTW/95-1.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/GWTW/96.jpg http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b252/PaulHardy/GWTW/97.jpg

Just got back. I was only able to take 11 pics at the stage door and most from the side, so no wonderful ones on this occasion, although there is one nice one of D and the three amigos :D I enjoyed the show, it moved me in parts, but I have to be honest and say one or two things weren't quite right(for me anyway) Being a D fan, I wanted him to be the character on stage, but his first half script didn't really allow him to dominate, as there were just far too many people on stage and the song snippets he sang just didn't showcase his voice at all :( Sir Trevor remarked about his booming singing voice, but he was given no real chance to evidence it before the break. He did actually miss his last note on one of the songs to, and although he probably won't on the next 100 occasions, it will have left an impression on those not familiar with how good his voice really is IMO :( He acted well with the dialogue and role he was given, and I would even go as far to say his acting was better than his singing in the first half. He also did a little dancing and as always he seemed incredibly graceful :) Second half was better for D as he came into the show more centrally. The songs were stronger and he delivered them with incredible emotion(on the appropriate ones) His duet with Jill was lovely too :) I am reporting this mainly about D rather than the actual show because as good a show as it was, I was there to see and support D. I feel he would want me to be honest with my opinions here, so I have been, and I hope that everyone knows me well enough to know that I am a true D fan, and wouldn't post to try and upset or annoy anyone. Overall the show was very good, and doubtless will get even better, once they streamline it a little. I thought Jill had far too many songs to perform throughout the whole show. I know the story is hers, but certainly 2-3 of her songs could be lost without any detriment to the production, particularly as Meg felt D had some scenes cut from the 2nd half. Jill was wonderful throughout, and was the star of the show, which given the storyline is probably correct. I feel the next most memorable character was actually Mammy :ohmy: She had a wonderful voice and played a great role. Darius on this occasion for me was only about the 3rd best performer of the evening, but I feel he has the skills and ability to overshadow everyone's performance if he can raise his game a little. Darius asked me what I thought of it, and I told him I loved it, which was true. This whole show seemed professional from the start, and much more like a west end musical than Chicago in that there were many stage and costume changes throughout, as well as the impressive set. It is wonderful to have seen an early performance because I know D will just get better and better throughout, and I am looking forward to going again on the 22-23 :) I will edit and post pictures soon, but as I said , there are only 11 in total, so I won't be able to fill the thread with them as I normally like too. I will certainly try for more next time :)

Train to catch ;)

Of course! I am shocked you even needed to ask :o

Incredible again for me

Good morning Meg :) What time do you plan to be at the stage door?

Ehhhm!!! :unsure: I will try BT, but if D is as convincing as he was doing Guys And Dolls, I might have a problem :unsure: