![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cassandra_7Disclaimer: I'm not even going to pretend to be impartial. What you're getting here is my opinion. Nothing more or less.
A Chorus Line
by: supas
at: The Montgomery Theatre
26 November 2008
I love musicals. I really do. So when I saw - when walking by the theatre - that A Chorus Line was on, I headed inside to see if tickets were still available. They were.
I'd forgotten just how simple the storyline is. It's some dancers, trying out for a chorus line, and telling about themselves in the process. That's it.
I'd also forgotten just how fun some of the songs are.
The show was performed with live musicians which was great. Although the orchestra had the occasional missed note, having a live orchestra is preferable to canned music any day.
Where the show was really let down was in the microphones and sound system. I'm not quite sure why, but even in the circle, where you'd think the speakers would be easier to hear, the singers were almost always inaudible. I can only imagine the stalls were worse. While I knew the songs, and it wasn't critical for me to hear every word to understand what was going on, for those who didn't, I can imagine it would have got old pretty quickly .
Other than that, the show was good, although variable in quality. A few of the actors/actresses seemed to struggle with remembering lines, although there was no visible/audible prompting. With a show of this kind, with so much singing and dancing, it's hard to find enough singers and dancers, and even harder to find people who can do both sufficiently well. There were a few flat notes in some songs that left me cringing, but other songs that shone.
"Dance 10; Looks 3" (aka Tits and Ass) was one of the gems. Pity that the sound system and orchestra made Val - played by Ellie Jones - almost inaudible. A similar problem came up with the equally good "What I Did for Love" (Diana played by Ellie Pike), which was fine when the orchestra was playing quiet bits (or when the chorus was singing) but during other parts the singer(s) were drowned out.
All this combined to make the choral numbers ("I Hope I Get It", "One" (and One reprise), and "What I did for Love") the highlights of the musical part of the show.
The show stealer had to be Larry played by Daniel Fisher who came on stage at the very end and performed a monologue about the production, which was well delivered and extremely funny.
I can't neglect to mention the very cool ballerina - Alison Clerici - who danced on a raised platform during "At the Ballet". Even on her toes! Now that's a real ballerina in my book :-) Joking aside, she really made the song.
While there were some low points as well as high points, I think the most disappointing thing about this show is that it was one night only. If I'd been one of the actors, I'd have been extremely disappointed not to have another night to correct some of the sound issues and other mistakes and mishaps that occurred. The issues that arose weren't terribly atypical for an opening night, but normally there are other nights to follow. How sad that in this case there weren't.
Overall, I was very glad I went, it was an entertaining evening.
Overall: 2/5 (mostly due to the sound issues)
Value for Money: 3/5
Recommendation: If you didn't go, you missed your chance.
A Chorus Line
by: supas
at: The Montgomery Theatre
26 November 2008
I love musicals. I really do. So when I saw - when walking by the theatre - that A Chorus Line was on, I headed inside to see if tickets were still available. They were.
I'd forgotten just how simple the storyline is. It's some dancers, trying out for a chorus line, and telling about themselves in the process. That's it.
I'd also forgotten just how fun some of the songs are.
The show was performed with live musicians which was great. Although the orchestra had the occasional missed note, having a live orchestra is preferable to canned music any day.
Where the show was really let down was in the microphones and sound system. I'm not quite sure why, but even in the circle, where you'd think the speakers would be easier to hear, the singers were almost always inaudible. I can only imagine the stalls were worse. While I knew the songs, and it wasn't critical for me to hear every word to understand what was going on, for those who didn't, I can imagine it would have got old pretty quickly .
Other than that, the show was good, although variable in quality. A few of the actors/actresses seemed to struggle with remembering lines, although there was no visible/audible prompting. With a show of this kind, with so much singing and dancing, it's hard to find enough singers and dancers, and even harder to find people who can do both sufficiently well. There were a few flat notes in some songs that left me cringing, but other songs that shone.
"Dance 10; Looks 3" (aka Tits and Ass) was one of the gems. Pity that the sound system and orchestra made Val - played by Ellie Jones - almost inaudible. A similar problem came up with the equally good "What I Did for Love" (Diana played by Ellie Pike), which was fine when the orchestra was playing quiet bits (or when the chorus was singing) but during other parts the singer(s) were drowned out.
All this combined to make the choral numbers ("I Hope I Get It", "One" (and One reprise), and "What I did for Love") the highlights of the musical part of the show.
The show stealer had to be Larry played by Daniel Fisher who came on stage at the very end and performed a monologue about the production, which was well delivered and extremely funny.
I can't neglect to mention the very cool ballerina - Alison Clerici - who danced on a raised platform during "At the Ballet". Even on her toes! Now that's a real ballerina in my book :-) Joking aside, she really made the song.
While there were some low points as well as high points, I think the most disappointing thing about this show is that it was one night only. If I'd been one of the actors, I'd have been extremely disappointed not to have another night to correct some of the sound issues and other mistakes and mishaps that occurred. The issues that arose weren't terribly atypical for an opening night, but normally there are other nights to follow. How sad that in this case there weren't.
Overall, I was very glad I went, it was an entertaining evening.
Overall: 2/5 (mostly due to the sound issues)
Value for Money: 3/5
Recommendation: If you didn't go, you missed your chance.
