Free Theatre/Concert Tickets Discussion Thread

[canadian_turtle]

I ended up uploading quite a lot of my videos from West End Live today so I won't embed them as it'll make this post very long, but link them instead:

Rock of Ages - Don't Stop Believin': http://youtu.be/nD97VyepfiM

Rock of Ages - Here I Go Again: http://youtu.be/kBEoAYJFnyE

Rock of Ages - Wanted Dead or Alive: http://youtu.be/bvptsylAsUU

Chicago the musical (Raza Jaffrey from NBC's Smash): http://youtu.be/g4UnzfYkPMQ

Scott Garnham - Beyond the Door (The In-Between Musical): http://youtu.be/LLU4eX92ZBs

Lauren Samuels - Someone You'd Be Proud Of (The In-Between Musical): http://youtu.be/PK_WLogBfzE

Danielle Hope - On My Own (Les Misérables): http://youtu.be/RVSo--rATd0

Singin' in the Rain - Good Morning: http://youtu.be/CWS2a7EOOWM

Tom Chambers and the cast of Top Hat - Putting on the Ritz: http://youtu.be/oWuQriSfsXg

[cliveas]

Those that have tickets for 'Dusty Limits - The Outer Limits' on the 24th please note that the show seems to have been on the 23rd!

On the SFF booking screen it even says the 23rd under the description.

[superhero]

The Udderbelly/Wonderground shows don't seem to be very popular, there's lots of tickets available for them. I suppose their shows get quite repetitive after awhile.

[LondonCityNights]

Did anyone else see "Born In The Gardens" at the Ashcroft Theatre in Croydon last night? Thanks to pcrock kindly posting the code, I was able to enjoy this and I was all the more pleased as although I like Peter Nichols' work, I'd never seen this particular play; also, the tour had visited another venue local to me but for one day only, in April, and I couldn't fit it in.

Quite a respectable attendance but a shame it wasn't larger. When I went to collect my single ticket, the Box Office lady didn't even check my printout but asked "How many tickets do you want?" and was reeling off absolutely reams of them!

I posted a review of this night here: http://www.londoncitynights.blogspot.co ... -21st.html

I don't know anything about Nichols' other work - is it all much like this?

[Ms Thrifty]

Tremendous review - thank you for the link, mrflunchy. You certainly seem to have seen all the darkness and allusions to some serious issues never made explicit.

Whether all Peter Nichols' work is like this is hard to say, at least for me. Two of his best-known and most frequently-staged plays are Passion Play and A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg, but I recall little of the former and have never seen the latter. My personal favourite is Poppy, which was so impressive that I saw it not once but twice when the RSC premiered it, years ago when they had an annual season at the Barbican. I've never been aware of it being revived since yet think it richly deserves it - it's like a kind of anti-panto, so would be just the thing for Xmas. Maybe audiences find his work too uncomfortable, or too close to home, for it to be seen more widely?

[LondonCityNights]

Aw, thanks for the kind words Ms Thrifty - I'll keep an eye out for more of his work being performed. I like Nichols' sensibilities, at least from what I've now heard of him

I went to see 66 minutes in Damascus tonight - http://www.richmix.org.uk/whats-on/even ... -damascus/
A visceral tour de force performance. As real as it comes, I don't want to say too much and spoil it for other people going, but it was that real, we got stopped by an ACTUAL police car, as they wanted to check that we were "okay". I still can't believe the police interrupted the play!!
Also I liked it because it wasn't a preachy political play, but asked the audience to think and understand the complexities of the situation. 10/10

Oh, and off the back of this recommendation I went to see this and it was absolutely terrifying! I was shaking like a leaf through most of it. I've done a writeup here: http://londoncitynights.blogspot.co.uk/ ... ditch.html

Thanks so much for recommending this - it would have totally passed me by without having read your post, superhero.

[Ms Thrifty]

Gosh, two more great reviews, superhero and mrflunchy. You both make me feel my taste in theatre is shamefully tame and pedestrian, but though I admire your adventurous nature, I don't exactly envy you the reality - definitely one for me to experience vicariously!

[superhero]

Wow, really glad you went mrflunchy and took the time to write such a detailed review. You should tweet it to lift2012, I am sure they would love to read it.
I am surprised the mainstream press only gave it 2 or 3 stars out of 5 but I am glad most of the general public loved it.
The bit where the play got stopped by the police when I went was when we were hooded/"tied" up and pushed into the van and they were driving us around.
The police car seeing 7 hooded captives in the back of the van was naturally worried! The first thing I heard was from the police "Are you alright?". I thought the play was still going and some UN staff had come to rescue us.....

[raj101]

Rock of Ages were the best act. Granted they are whoring someone elses music, but they stood out, four songs back to back. Mamma Mia looked like a college show by comparison - I thought they were dissappointing tbh, I wouldnt go and watch that show.

Special mention for the girl and boys who played Matilda, Billy Elliott and young Michael Jackson. They might well be egocentric little youngsters who love themselves a little too much, but they had guts for doing their solos in front of the Traff crowd. Its a lot of pressure on them and I think its undue pressure they get at such a young age - 13 year old Billy had to do a gym rountine as well as a song in the midst of london girls laughing at his geordie accent. Crushing, it would have been, if he'd fluffed up.

Shrek was ok, but oh man it manwhored the entire meaning of Shrek. So not Shrek. And not even an appearance by Shrek himself??

Probably theres a strong correlation between the effort put into each act and the current struggles of the show. West End Live was an unashamed advert for boosting sales, but its a crown prince of adverts. I wish I'd gone to both days now and the advert did the job - it turned me on to more shows (Thriller, Billy Elliott, Matilda) than it put me off (Shrek, Horrible Histories).

[raj101]

Did anyone try to infiltrate Hackney 2012?