From jazz hands and high kicks to Sondheim magic

[showtunesgirl]

Welcome to the Mumsnet Musical Theatre thread.

Pull up a sequinned pouffe, get cosy with a porn star martini, kick off those character shoes, take off the wig and let out your inner Bernadette Peters.

This is a thread for lovers of musical theatre, whether watching or participating in it. Anything Goes here so to speak...

I'll kick off by saying that in the last week I saw The Book of Mormon and sob, Merrily We Roll Along. Both excellent in completely different ways.

Anyone else?

Yep, closed on the 12th. Bloody shame as I love a bit of Gershwin.

I really fancy Pippin. Such an unusual show and I'd like to see Patina Miller. I've just noticed that Charlotte D'Amboise is in it too as Fastrada. She was on that documentary about the making of the most recent Broadway revival of A Chorus Line. I think she played Cassie. Her dad was lovely in SBFSB.

Sorrel Newsies is coming over here soon too. The call has been put out in the last week for dancers for it.

Do you think it'll sell here? Who knows.

speaking of which- anyone seen Chorus Line in latest revival?

Yes, saw it in Feb. It was a preview and there were about three understudies on. I didn't see Scarlett which was as shame but it was a very strong cast overall I thought. John Partridge was very good which I was pleased about as I hadn't seen him in anything since The Drowsy Chaperone (roller skating blindfold anyone?).

Blimey, cheapest Pippin tickets I can find for Sat eve are $196 each! Gulp.

NY shows are extortionate-- half price booth is your friend

they had Newsies tickets available yesterday-- only 20% discount though

I'd put money on Camelot never ever being seen again. To be honest, it is not a good score. It is all about spectacle and to mount it properly you'd need to spend an absolute fortune - we're talking Charlie & The Chocolate Factory money - and you'd never get your money back.

Pippin is a strange thing. Always popular in the US but doesn't travel well. Bit like The Fantasticks.

I saw A Chorus Line in previews too. I did get Scarlett though and she was very good.

I was however annoyed that Connie was played by a non South East Asian understudy. So they just dropped the "Always Wong and never right" line.

Just watched the montage video. It looks amazing but I don't know if I can justify that amount of cash. On the other hand, when will there be a production of it on that scale over here? On the other hand.. (channels Tevye).

strange- I really never think of Camelot as a spectacle show- in my opinion it was one of the first 'name' shows- so they would absolutely wheel out Richard Harris or Robert Goulet for a tour- and all the attraction would be off of seeing them. Similar to what they used to do with Ted Neeley and Superstar. But- my perpsective is very different- I'm from the US and Camelot really was massive there and was a huge amount of nostaglia attached to it. That generation is dying out though-as is the R&H generation.

ofcourse - ah, didn't appreciate you were in the States. Camelot has never been as popular here in the UK as it was there. In the US, it was all the time of Kennedy and that added to it (certainly the newspapers and books suggest that helped). Last time they tried to do it here, on a modest scale and with a B-list name, it died a death and the critics were merciless about the piece itself. Over here, the only Lerner & Loewe show you ever see now is My Fair Lady. Brigadoon etc never seen.

Brigadoon. Listen, village, don't bother coming back every 100 years, honestly it's fine, really, we just don't care.

Ha so true!

Tomorrow I'm going to a sort of Musical Theatre conference. Should be interesting. There'll be performers, writers, directors and producers there. I'm going along with my director's hat on and DH is coming in his capacity as a writer.

I will get to talk about MT ALL DAY!

Ha so true!

Tomorrow I'm going to a sort of Musical Theatre conference. Should be interesting. There'll be performers, writers, directors and producers there. I'm going along with my director's hat on and DH is coming in his capacity as a writer.

I will get to talk about MT ALL DAY!

Bloody mobile!

Oh that sounds like a wonderful day. I'm very sad, I like nothing better than an all day Sunday rehearsal (even when the sun is shining)!.

Can I join in? Big MT fan but currently not am dramming due to BFing DS which rules out evenings.

Wicked is probably my favourite musical elphaba wannabe but I also adore les mis and Miss Saigon.

I'm desperate to get on stage again soon

Oh I'm so glad about Passion. As much as I would darn Sondheims socks (can you tell I love him ardently?) when I listened to Passion I wanted to shoot the female lead (didn't even bother to find out more about it!)

Would love to see A Chorus Line (anyone see the poster?? Ye Gads I'd kill to do a high kick like that)

I do love Les Mis, Phantom and Saigon. And here's the funny thing, pre having DS I thought "I'd give my life for you" was great but didn't really feel a connection. FFW to having DS? I wailed like a banshee.

Saw Will Young in Cabaret last year, he really was very good but Michelle left me cold. Nowhere near enough oomph in the two key songs (Maybe/Cabaret)

Got hooked on Sondheim when someone lent me Into the Woods and SITPWG on DVD. I must have watched them hundreds of times and would have played Cinderella yonks ago when my voice was good, now I would be either the Witch or the Bakers wife

I hear you Shakey about 'I'd give my life for you'. I always thought it was an ok number but since having DS I can't make it through the song, listening or singing without choking up.

I love Miss Saigon, I'd love a west end revival

Itching to see a chorus line - might have to enlist the grandparents and hit a matinee smug Londoner

Anyone have a dream role to play? The kid in me would love to play Pearl in Starlight Express, I would love a stab at Mimi in Rent, Cosette in Les Mis even if she is wet and Elphaba... Not sure I'd love being green for 8 shows a week though! I'd love to play Kim in Miss Saigon too, but the older I get the more I Identify with Ellen and feel for her and the awful position she is in.

Oh Ellen's a great part! "It's her or me" is a great song to sing, lovely key changes.

Ooh let me see- dream roles would be

Sally Bowles
Fanny Brice
Mme Thenadier
Dot (SITPWG)
The witch (have you seen my nectarines )
Bakers wife
Mrs Lovett

More I'm sure!

Meant to add that I saw Cats when I was in Hamburg many moons ago. I don't speak German and I's have a gallon of wine. I snored.

But there IS going to be a revival of Saigon! They are casting for it right now!

And it's not "Her Or Me" anymore, not since they changed it as they thought that Ellen was too combative. They changed it to "Now That I've Seen Her".

I hope they do what they did over in New York where Ellen was also sometimes played by another South East Asian actress. It gave the whole show another level of meaning, like Chris went home and found himself a replacement Kim!

If you've never seen the Making of Miss Saigon, have a look at this clip: which is Lea's audition. You can just tell that she is special.