Cats: Francesca Hayward and Steven McRae to star in film version

[Candleque]

Even bigger than a bus. Lovely Francesca Hayward on Jimmy Kimmel last night

[capybara]

1 hour ago, Candleque said:

Even bigger than a bus. Lovely Francesca Hayward on Jimmy Kimmel last night

 

and, as she says, she was on the plane first thing yesterday after her Swanhilda the night before, Yet, some 20+ hours after leaving home, there she is looking amazing.

[bridiem]

2 hours ago, Candleque said:

Even bigger than a bus. Lovely Francesca Hayward on Jimmy Kimmel last night

 

And what an amusing, enjoyable interview - credit to both interviewee and interviewer, especially given the limited time. Unlike the last time I saw a dancer on a chat show - Carlos Acosta was on Jonathan Ross earlier this year (I only watched because he was on) and it was cringeworthily awful, with JR (who is actually perfectly intelligent but for some reason pretends not to be) acting like an ignorant, crude idiot and reducing the idea of ballet to something weird and bizarre. (Well I know it is rather weird and bizarre, but that's not the point...). Poor Carlos Acosta was of course the epitome of style, talent and grace in the face of the stupidity.

[bridiem]

2 hours ago, Candleque said:

Even bigger than a bus. Lovely Francesca Hayward on Jimmy Kimmel last night

 

And she posted on her Instagram account an image of a TRULY GINORMOUS billboard in LA with herself on it. She really must feel like (is) a film star now!

[Lizbie1]

11 minutes ago, bridiem said:

Carlos Acosta was on Jonathan Ross earlier this year (I only watched because he was on) and it was cringeworthily awful, with JR (who is actually perfectly intelligent but for some reason pretends not to be) acting like an ignorant, crude idiot and reducing the idea of ballet to something weird and bizarre.

 

Off topic but I dread to think how an interview with Jonathan Ross and Hayward might have gone, given his creepy attitude on his show towards attractive young women. (I stopped watching him altogether because of it.)

[bridiem]

28 minutes ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

Off topic but I dread to think how an interview with Jonathan Ross and Hayward might have gone, given his creepy attitude on his show towards attractive young women. (I stopped watching him altogether because of it.)

 

Of course she may yet be on Jonathan Ross, come to think of it - nearer the time of the opening here.

[Tony Newcombe]

40 minutes ago, bridiem said:

 

Of course she may yet be on Jonathan Ross, come to think of it - nearer the time of the opening here.

I would advise against it. The guests on his show are there to show off his ego. I remember Dennis Hopper being on his show

many years ago and he could not get a word in at all, More recently a British star in another field altogether gave as good as she got

from him. Most of that was edited out

[bridiem]

7 minutes ago, Tony Newcombe said:

I would advise against it. The guests on his show are there to show off his ego. I remember Dennis Hopper being on his show

many years ago and he could not get a word in at all, More recently a British star in another field altogether gave as good as she got

from him. Most of that was edited out

 

I would have thought that she's contractually bound to do all this publicity so I'm not sure she'd have a choice if they want her.

[capybara]

1 minute ago, bridiem said:

 

I would have thought that she's contractually bound to do all this publicity so I'm not sure she'd have a choice if they want her.

 

She definitely has contractual obligations, hence her appearance in LA yesterday and the gap in her RB performances before and after the Cats premiere.

[Stevie]

2 minutes ago, capybara said:

 

She definitely has contractual obligations, hence her appearance in LA yesterday and the gap in her RB performances before and after the Cats premiere.

She may be lucky and get Graham Norton. She would be much more relaxed and even have fun with that.

 

[Margaret]

Does anyone know how long the film of CATS is and if there will be an interval?  No information on the Vue cinema chain which I use.

 

Thanks

[Sim]

6 hours ago, Stevie said:

She may be lucky and get Graham Norton. She would be much more relaxed and even have fun with that.

 

And he loves ballet.  I have seen him at the ROH and ENB performances several times. 

[bangorballetboy]

1 hour ago, Margaret said:

Does anyone know how long the film of CATS is and if there will be an interval?  No information on the Vue cinema chain which I use.

 

Thanks

 

2 hours, no interval.

[Xandra Newman]

49 minutes ago, Sim said:

And he loves ballet.  I have seen him at the ROH and ENB performances several times. 

 

Graham Norton must be a ballet lover as he invited RB Principals Matthew Ball and Yasmine Naghdi on his BBC Radio 2 show prior to their Romeo & Juliet live cinema relay (Jonathan Ross??? He better not interview ballet dancers, his interview with Carlos Acosta was a total joke,  good Carlos Acosta kept his dignity!)

 

 

[Stevie]

9 hours ago, Lizbie1 said:

 

Off topic but I dread to think how an interview with Jonathan Ross and Hayward might have gone, given his creepy attitude on his show towards attractive young women. (I stopped watching him altogether because of it.)

I digress, but I have never watched Jonathon Ross since he was rightly sacked. I hope Franky is spared that indignity. No drive for publicity is worth putting an individual through that ordeal. In my reality world, when anyone is sacked, they stay sacked. Even in cases of wrongful dismissal, they may receive compensation, but never reinstated.

[Sim]

Francesca Hayward has real star quality.  She is beautiful, eloquent, confident and fun.  All this aside from her artistic talent.  Envious, moi?  😩

[Stevie]

8 hours ago, Sim said:

Francesca Hayward has real star quality.  She is beautiful, eloquent, confident and fun.  All this aside from her artistic talent.  Envious, moi?  😩

I don't think anyone can deny that. I have a friend who works in the offices. He says she regularly calls in and is extremely kind and friendly and tiny.

[Richard LH]

6 hours ago, Stevie said:

I don't think anyone can deny that. I have a friend who works in the offices. He says she regularly calls in and is extremely kind and friendly and tiny.

Let's just say "petite"....! 🙂 as well as all the other compliments....!

[capybara]

Real star quality shines through in unexpected ways such as the delightful manner in which Francesca handled her LA interview. (Says me holding back on making comments about her interviewer.)

[Rob S]

2 hours ago, capybara said:

Real star quality shines through in unexpected ways such as the delightful manner in which Francesca handled her LA interview. (Says me holding back on making comments about her interviewer.)

 

I generally only watch his opening monologue, I thought it went ok

[Mary]

She handled the interview remarkably well.

 

I didn't think the interviewer was all that bad- I had never heard of him, -but  all right, he knew nothing about ballet but the interview was mainly about Cats after all, rather than her ballet career. But he did ask reasonable questions, and allowed her to answer them. I felt he was quite pleasant and respectful, on the whole. I have  come across many much- much- more ignorant and silly interviews with dancers in this country - alas.

 

 

 

[Ivy Lin]

I saw the interview. I thought it was pretty cute and standard format for US late night talk shows. Jimmy Kimmel has actually done some interviews with ballerinas. He's one of my favorite late-night comedians. 

 

Here's the full interview on YT:

 

 

[LinMM]

I didn’t think he was disrespectful at all in fact was admiring the fact that she had been on stage performing just the night before and appreciative of her doing her ballet class on set of Cats before others arrived!! 
She looked amazing and very happy. 

[penelopesimpson]

She just glows.  What a lovely lady.

[LinMM]

Last Wednesday  I got chatting to a lady in the downstairs ROH cafe and was saying that I’d booked to see Francesca in Swan Lake in the Spring when this older man opposite said “ Francesca’s my granddaughter” Then Grandmum arrived and we had a lovely chat with them they were just such a sweet couple and had been doing a bit of shopping for her (and rescuing a forgotten passport)  and told us she was performing that night at ROH and then flying out to New York at 5am! Then she was flying to Berlin and then back to New York all in a few days ....phew! 
I believe these lovely grandparents have been Francesca’s main support in life which may be In part why she comes across so grounded and naturally self assured. 
It was my lucky day too as the lady I was chatting to had a spare ticket for the Sleeping Beauty and Me Insight evening so an unexpected treat at the end of the afternoon. 
Having not been there for months I was then back there again at 1pm the next day for Beauty. 

Edited December 8, 2019 by LinMM

[rowan]

I had a similar encounter with Francesca’s grandfather while in the audience for Onegin a couple of years ago. I started chatting to a man in the seat next to me during the interval, and it turned out to be him. He was clearly so proud of her.

[Ian Macmillan]

Online now, for inclusion in tomorrow's Times 2.

 

 

 

 

[ChrisG]

Well, the reviews are now in for Cats.  I won't repeat any of them because they're almost universally pretty brutal, suffice to say the Telegraph thought it so bad they gave it no stars.  The only exception appears to be the Daily Mail but that doesn't surprise because it's always struck me that the target audience for any Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is a Daily Mail reader.  Part of me feels pretty smug as I loathe his musicals with a passion, but at the same time I feel really sad for Francesca who I wanted the world to love as much as we do, though she does get a few honourable mentions in otherwise scathing reviews.  

[blackdove]

Who cares about reviews? The only critics who matter are the ones sitting in the audience.

[bridiem]

2 hours ago, ChrisG said:

Well, the reviews are now in for Cats.  I won't repeat any of them because they're almost universally pretty brutal, suffice to say the Telegraph thought it so bad they gave it no stars.  The only exception appears to be the Daily Mail but that doesn't surprise because it's always struck me that the target audience for any Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is a Daily Mail reader.

 

What a prejudiced and patronising thing to say.

[Richard LH]

TIME considers Francesca Hayward the best thing about the movie. A glowing  tribute to her dancing and  acting here:

https://time.com/5752569/cats-movie-review/

[bridiem]

44 minutes ago, Richard LH said:

TIME considers Francesca Hayward the best thing about the movie. A glowing  tribute to her dancing and  acting here:

https://time.com/5752569/cats-movie-review/

 

Of the reviews I've read, I thought that this one and the Vanity Fair one were the most illuminating in their comments. 

[Fonty]

I saw this live about 5 or 6 times over the years, and absolutely loved it every time.  I thought the production was very clever and the dancing wonderful, but for me it is a stage musical.  I never think these translate well into films as a rule, and feel no desire whatsoever to see the movie.  However, I am very pleased that Hayward seems to have got such glowing reviews.

 

I had to admire someone's sense of humour.   At the bottom of the Time review, one of the adverts read, "Is your cat overweight?"  🙂  Oh dear, was the CGI not very flattering for some of the cast?