| Thread Review for Wouldn't it be Loverly... (newest post first) |
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helen |
Posted on 2:02 pm on June 1, 2002 |
hey!
I'd just like to say that Dom is an amazing guy! You should all consider yourself lucky to even have had interaction with him. I love him alot.
My Fair Lady rules! Not that i've seen it, but if Dom loves it then i do too.
see u round guys n gals! |
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Lucy |
Posted on 7:09 am on May 25, 2002 |
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chrisball |
Posted on 6:53 am on May 24, 2002 |
| It's smiley smiley Carol Smiley . . .
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mmebahorel |
Posted on 6:01 pm on May 23, 2002 |
| Ah, you see, it's all about the smilies, isn't it?
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Lucy |
Posted on 3:34 pm on May 23, 2002 |
| Sorry I am wrong. I never type it you see. It's http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk (and I forgot to use the smilies so I had to come back)
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Lucy |
Posted on 3:32 pm on May 23, 2002 |
I guess I'm talking about the original video. The one with terrible colour (yellow and such).The most emotional bit in SP (gets me every time) is either 'Love is quite different. It grows by its self' or 'I LOVE YOU!' yelled after Nellie with such incredible passion. They're both on the CD and get me every time.
Edward Baker-Duly (Joe Cable) is a lot better on the CD than I can ever remember in performance. He has quite a pleasant voice.
Best place to get the CD from is ordered online from the National Theatre Website under 'Bookshop' (www.nationaltheatreonline.org I think!). Couldn't be easier. It'll be a cheaper CD and they do free delivery on both My Fair Lady and South Pacific CDs. They also do great script selections! You can get anything at great prices! By far my favourite shop in the world.
As for Jon v Phil...it's impossible. I love them both along with Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Fry, Judi Dench, Ian Mckellen, Trevor Nunn, and the list goes on and on!
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mmebahorel |
Posted on 5:48 pm on May 21, 2002 |
Because it's an NT cd, you probably won't find it in most stores. Go to Dress Circle when you're in London and you'll find it there, or just order it from them: http://www.dresscircle.co.uk
To Lucy: which film? Original or Glenn Close version? I haven't seen the original since I was in elementary school. I think it was the connection I felt between Nick and the novel that really got me.
Yeah, I know, heresy that I don't think Phil the greatest Javert ever. My personal favourites are Michael McCarthy and Stephen Bishop (Bishop was with the US tour up until last October, but unfortunately, he was out with a dislocated shoulder when I saw the tour in August, so my last time seeing him was last March). I'm not sure what it is, but having gotten used to Bishop, when I watched Phil again, it just wasn't the same. Seeing McCarthy, in spite of the differences in little details, was the same, and I'm not sure how to describe it. You just sometimes know your favourite because you feel something when you see them. I feel something when I see Mike (god, can't believe his last show is a week from tomorrow!).
I rarely cry, and when I do, it's usually over random things (like the time I cried during Bring Him Home not because of the Valjean or the Marius, but because the Enjolras caught my eye and in that moment, he wasn't my buddy Tewks, he really was Enjolras and on "he is young, he is only a boy" I just lost it), but I get so teary on Race You to the Top of the Morning. Was so sorry it closed, but if it hadn't, we might not have had South Pacific, so at least I got to be all emotional over a show Philip was in (though what usually got me was the last radio broadcast, I kept finishing it out from the book in my mind: "American peoper! You die! *machine gun fire*". Reading the book once was too much for my emotions. Reading the last chapter two more times still had tears pouring down my face. I literally couldn't finish for a while because I couldn't see through the tears. After an experience like that, anything will bring back the memories.
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dom ohanlon |
Posted on 2:34 pm on May 21, 2002 |
dear me, what started off as a question bout the vidoe and dvd, has turned into a massive debate about Phill vs Jonny!!
lol!!!
anyway, i have looked all over for the SP cd, but i cant find it anywhere! wen did it cum out?
Iam also hoping that the CCBB cd will cum out soon! Michael Ball, Brian Blessed, Richard O'Brien....etc. are a dream cast! Ibet its not as gud as MFL! LOL!
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Lucy |
Posted on 1:34 pm on May 21, 2002 |
Do you not think Phil's the best Javert! I have to say, I too am terribly picky about Javert because he is one of my favourite characters in the world! I love Javert (he's also incredibly sexy!) more than I love Higgins (which says a lot!).
After I saw the Secret Garden I was devastated for months! Now I've got the CD it's better but in the right mood I can still sob through 'How could I know' and 'Race you to the top of the morning'. I'm a farely enclosed persons when it comes to emotions but I sobbed (and I mean sobbed! The cast could probably hear me) all the way through it (or so it seemed!).
I wasn't too fond of Nick Holder's Billis, I much prefer the one in the film!
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mmebahorel |
Posted on 12:32 pm on May 21, 2002 |
Divas at the Donmar in August. Beyond that, no one knows.
A list of CDs that are necessary:
Les Miserables Tenth Anniversary Concert (Javert)
The Secret Garden, Original London Cast (Archibald Craven)
South Pacific, RNT 2002 (Emile de Becque)
The Fix (Grahame Chandler)
The only other recording he's done that I can think of off the top of my head is The Secret Garden, Original Australian Cast, but it's a very expensive highlights, fewer than 8 tracks, and not worth the cost. He played Neville in that cast before he played Archie over here.
You can hear the man act on all those CDs (I have all but South Pacific just because I was putting all my money into tickets to the actual show and haven't gotten around to getting the recording now that I can afford it). He uses his voice so well, and what a voice it is. Watch the Les Mis concert video if you can. He's no longer my absolute favourite Javert, but I am very picky about Javerts, and Phil is an excellent one. His facial expressions are excellent -- perfectly in line with the rigid character and yet letting just enough shades of expression show (until the Suicide, where he really lets go, because it is the final outpouring of Javert's conflicted and changing soul) to let the audience get inside this very private man.
His two prior Oliviers are for George in Sunday in the Park with George and Grahame Chandler in The Fix. I wish there was a recording of the RNT's Sunday, because that is one of my favourite musicals. Of all the dreck that has had multiple recordings, Sunday only gets the one, with Mandy Patinkin (which is excellent, mind you, but I do want to hear what other people do with the role!). I do wonder if there was a limited release recording and I've just never heard about it because I came to it too late -- I mean, another year, and I'd probably not have known about the Judi Dench-A Little Night Music recording that I feel very lucky to have.
The good news is that Phil has relocated to London and will be working here more now, instead of working in Australia. So hopefully something will open up for him in the next year and you'll get a chance to see him. He never ceases to amaze me (well, neither does Jon *g*).
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Kathryn |
Posted on 7:26 am on May 21, 2002 |
| I've just given myself a crash course in Philip Quast as I'm ashamed to say I didn't know much about him before. He certainly looks very talented on paper. I hope I get the chance to see him in something soon. Anyone know what he's doing next?
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mmebahorel |
Posted on 6:35 am on May 21, 2002 |
The whole ensemble was terrific as well. Their bits of stage business were always very individual, and though I did a lot of Tam Mutu watching, I never failed to notice each of the other guys on occasion, and the girls were great with their own little characterisations in I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair. Wasn't so fond of Sheila Francisco, but it could be the character, too, and Edward Baker-Duly was sufficient as Joe Cable. A good actor, who suited the part, but the weakest link vocally in the cast.
Of course, what pulled me back so many times was as much Nick Holder as the romantic leads. I read the book after I saw the show the first two times, and at that point, I absolutely latched onto Luther Billis because Nick seemed to incorporate so much of Tony Fry, my favourite character in the book. It's still hard to think of Tony without crying, and I left the book at home for my mother at the end of March.
I think the inclusion of Now Is The Time helped the character of Emile a lot. "I am back where I started, seeing the world as it is. Now is the time, the time to live. No other time is real. Yesterday has gone, tomorrow's a guess, today you can see and feel."
Which of course is not to say that the entire production was better than MFL -- they were different. Bourne's choreography is much more inspired in MFL, but he did a good job with SP in not being too terribly cheesy (it's so easy for R&H to be cheesy). Nothing Like A Dame was excellent; Bloody Mary was brilliant at the beginning but less so as it wore on. But the cast was young, energetic, and really knew their stage business, which allowed distinct characterisations as they weren't playing multiple characters. Some of the characterisations ensemblewise aren't as strong in MFL because the character exist for such a short period of time and more as background than anything else. Sir Reginald Tarrington, for example. Perhaps that's why Valerie Cutko stood out so much. But the ensemble has different things required of it in each piece, so it isn't necessarily fair to compare them. The closed world of that particular army base on that particular island in the South Pacific is different to the interlocking and suddenly vaguely overlapping worlds of London that MFL presents. It's different.
It was a great year for theatre. Wish this year would be as good (why why why are they bringing Contact over here? And I suspect not for a limited run, either.).
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Lucy |
Posted on 2:44 pm on May 20, 2002 |
SP was terrific! Matthew Bourne's choreography and Trevor Nunn's directing...who could ask for more in a musical. Despite being a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical the cast overcame the obvious cheese that comes with doing one and even managed to sing some of the worst lyrics in history with conviction. Now there's a feat!
The characters that are so flat and thoughtless on paper were transformed into real people and the whole cast was magnificent!
You can't expect Les Miserables story line wise when you go to see R&H but it was highly entertaining and the CD (excuse the advertising) is a must for those winter blues. (just sing 'A Cockeyed Optimist' at the very top of your voice with all the feeling you can and try to suppress fits of giggles and the immense urge to skip about the room and you'll know exactly what I mean . Go on! I dare you!)
Then there is Philip Quast... seen him in anything else? The man is fabulous and veryone knows it apart from himself. Could not wish for a better actor on and off the stage, believe me! And the voice!
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Kathryn |
Posted on 5:31 pm on May 19, 2002 |
OK, I admit I can't enter into a debate about Jon vs Philip as I didn't see the latter. I agree with you mmebahorel, that it's better for the theatre overall to have more than one obvious contender for an award. I would have been very happy if Jon had won, but I'm sure he'll get over it; after all he's won before and you don't survive in the theatre as long as he has unless you're fairly thick skinned! After hearing youall talk about it though, I'm really sorry i missed South Pacific .
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Lucy |
Posted on 2:15 pm on May 19, 2002 |
| Before some know-it-all says it I know Micheal Ball is a Tenor!
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Lucy |
Posted on 2:13 pm on May 19, 2002 |
I was annoyed that Lauren was snubbed as well, even more annoyed that Martine wasn't!
Phil's Emile was very layered and both the guys (Phil and Jon) are terribly talented, both with three Oliviers I believe now, classically trained at their countries most acclaimed drama schools (NIDA and RADA) and both deserved it against the other candidates. However who deserved it between themselves?
Their acting is spot on but as we're looking at "best actor in a musical" Phil's singing wins miles over Jon's, not only because of the limitations of Higgins's score but also because of talent! Phil is simply the best (and I mean it! Screw Russel Watson and Micheal Ball) Baritone I have ever heard.
P.S. Thanks for telling me about the faces. You won't get me to stop using them now!
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mmebahorel |
Posted on 10:19 am on May 19, 2002 |
But see, you haven't see Philip Quast's Emile. Quast's Emile *is* as complex emotionally as Pryce's Higgins. I also don't believe that one is any more complex musically than the other (perhaps for the orchestra, but My Fair Lady does not have a complex and taxing vocal part for Higgins -- if it was, they could never have hired Alex Jennings). Jon's role may have had more stage time, since there isn't a secondary plot line, but at times, depending on the voters' idea of how Shaw should be played, Jon may have gone over the top a couple of times. And depending on the voters' idea of de Becque, Phil's boyish interpretation may not have been to their liking. It's all subjective. God, look at the Tonys last year. The winner for best actress had one song, while one of the nominees carried an entire show. There's no completely objective measure in figure skating, gymnastics, or theatre.
It was a draw, and what would you have preferred? One of those years when no one really stood out, or a year in which there were multiple fantastic performances? The latter means a much richer theatre season, even if it does mean greater disappointment at award time for certain people.
If it was just about doing well, Brent Barrett did extremely well, too. Lauren Kennedy was fantastic, and I preferred her in her role to Marin Mazzie in hers, but she was not nominated at all, and I think Nellie Forbush is just as demanding as Lilli Vanessi. Oh, so Lauren didn't have to throw things. She had to exhibit a controlled anger and heartbreak, which is more difficult than Lilli's broad emotions. The women's nominations were less than ideal this year. At least Jon got a nom -- I was not happy about Lauren being snubbed. And that's how awards go -- we like them only when we like the people who won. I've given up on caring -- yeah, it was great that Phil go recognition, but did it help the show extend? No. At the end of the day, everyone was in the same place they were before the nominations were announced. And this was a year where the outcome was pretty good for me. Become a cynic, it's easier *g*.
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Kathryn |
Posted on 7:34 pm on May 18, 2002 |
| I think Jon should have got the Olivier. I'm saying this without having seen Philip Quast in South Pacific, and that's a bit presumptuous of me I know but I cannot see how the role of Emile de Becque can be compared to that of Henry Higgins. The latter is more complex musically and emotionally and in its language and therefore requires greater technical skill. Both actors may have done well, but Jon should have got the award in recognition of the greater demands of his role.
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mmebahorel |
Posted on 5:25 pm on May 18, 2002 |
I wish they could have videoed South Pacific! *sigh* I was sorry that the "Making of" stuff had to be canned.
And yes, I saw it. Many many times. I was a regular fixture there after seeing it twice in previews. Philip was amazing -- that man is a bloody genius. I loved both of them, but I think I would have voted for Phil, too -- Jon was excellent, and moving, and different, and yet there was just something that seemed more different and that made much more sense in Philip's interpretation. But both men took overdone roles and made them not just their own, but into something that seemed completely new. Still, I have to say that Phil's boyish Emile was such a brilliant idea and so perfectly executed that I was very glad to see him get a third Olivier. Anyway, yes, I was a fixture. Just ask Nick Holder and Lauren Kennedy *g*.
I think the only way a video would be done is if they can get Martine. Martine is that name that will boost sales, and sales are the only justification for the massive expense that a video will entail. While it should be done, it will be dependent on Martine, I'm sure. But considering the number of productions that have never been video recorded, I certainly don't expect a video.
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Lucy |
Posted on 6:44 am on May 18, 2002 |
| Not too sure they could get both Jonathan and Martine! But we can live without Martine, Joanna Riding any day! As for Alex Jennings being as good as Jon...diferent maybe but "As Good" ? Nah!! Not on your Nellie! (Tacky reference to South Pacific but God I miss it!!!!! Any one else see it? Phil Quast is a genius! Long live the man who stole the Olivier from under Jon's sniffer!
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