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


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1 hour ago, Sim said:

I hope she doesn’t start losing the artist within.  

 

All experiences change people and many help artistes to grow.

 

Steven McRae's role does not appear to be one that features especially strongly - or does it?

Edited by capybara
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9 minutes ago, capybara said:

All experiences change people and many help artistes to grow.

 

Any form of experience does change people yes, but it does not guarantee it always helps them to grow in a positive way, some experiences can/may have profound adverse effects on people.

 

33 minutes ago, Shya100 said:

someone like Francesca it may affect any career ambitions she has going forward. 

 

I feel the UK reviews have been kinder to her, but not so much the USA reviews. The Wall Street Journal wrote: 

"The innocent/slinky Victoria—whose perpetually arched eyebrows, ever-parted lips and “tail perpendicular” (to quote Eliot) suggest that a litter might be arriving in about two months’ time—is played by the lovely but voiceless Francesca Hayward, a principal at London’s Royal Ballet. From what we can see, her dancing is quite fine, though the editing of the musical numbers is so heavy-handed it doesn’t do her justice".

 

 

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I'm intending to go and see Cats and will report back when I have.

 

Bad reviews don't necessarily mean bad films or even films that won't do well at the box office ... Blade Runner, Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman are three that spring to mind that were universally panned on original release but all did really well at the box office and actually gave a heck of a lot of people a heck of a lot of pleasure.

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3 hours ago, Lindsay said:

I think those engaged in higher level music education know that ALW's work is musically banal with a generous topping of ersatz emotional manipulation. 

An astute businessman - undoubtedly.  An artist - hardly.....

 

Well, to be honest I think that that description of his work could be applied to a huge amount of popular music if you wanted to be cynical about it. But on the whole people seem to like tunes, and lyrics that they find meaningful, and that's what ALW often provides. (As opposed to most classical composers now, who would rather die than write anything that could be called a 'tune' and would be appalled to be described as 'popular'.) I actually thought ALW's early musicals were terrific (musically rather than in respect of the stagings I saw, which apart from Cats were pretty awful), but I haven't seen anything of his for decades because I don't in fact generally like musicals much (with a few honourable exceptions on film). So I don't know what his later work is like.

 

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22 hours ago, LinMM said:

 

Referring to Chris G post I personally am  not sure how anyone could use the word "loathe" about an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical....goodness they're not that bad and have produced some really wonderful songs over the years 😊 but horses for courses I suppose. 

 

 

 

errm me! I loathe all ALW musicals (or what ive been able to tolerate of them eg about 5 minutes) and tbh pretty every other musical I've ever been subjected to... I got dragged to see Wicked (my daughters friends birthday) and spent most of it flinching; watched Les Miserables (the film) and wanted to put my fingers in my ears through about 90% of it. Urgg.

 

The only musical of any kind I've ever liked was Galivant because it was hilariously funny (though I'm not sure it was ever on UK TV- only saw it as DH did the visual effects)

 

Youngest DD saw Cats last night- Id have expected her to be perfect audience aged 12 but she said it was ghastly...

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I have no intention whatsoever to waste my money on this movie (I rather spend it on a ballet performance) but my neighbour's children (13 and 15) went last night and said it was an awful movie, boring and repetitive, they didn't like it one bit. 

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Well perhaps I should confess to only having been to two 😶 Cats and Phantom. 
But I do like some of the songs from the others but never got round to going....now how long was Les Mis at the Cambridge Theatre? So guess I’m not a down and out fan of actually getting to the theatre to see them for real!

My priority goes something like this : 1)Ballet/Dance, 2)concerts/ recitals, 3)straight theatre, 4)Films, 5) Opera 6) Musicals The first three take up most of my viewing time though. So Musicals not exactly top priority! 
But I do like a good song!! 
 

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I saw Cats and surprisingly disliked it, apart from Graham Fletcher's dancing, but loved Phantom, Evita, Sunset Boulevard, and the more recent Stephen Ward in which he certainly didn't dumb down ( probably why it had a short run, that's the problem) but was a serious modern musical work.

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Well Cats is an acquired taste. A saw a programme about the musical and the people who put it together didn't expect it to be a success. But it was...but it is marmite. And a film of it. Given it is Cats was probably a suspension of disbelief a bit far. I mean what if they had made the film  of warhorse with a puppet. 

 

ALW is very good at his job and was perfect for the 80's big musicals. He is perfect at what he does 

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I am not interested in Cats but- if the RB dancers got something out of it, in terms of experience and financially, that is surely good.

 

We all know they are two exceptional artists- and it seems very clear they are not to blame for anything that is amiss with the film- from the bits I've seen, Steven McRae dances as scintillatingly as ever, and Francesca Hayward would look lovely if it were not for the computer generated strangeness- which is not of her making.

 

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1 hour ago, LinMM said:

But I do like some of the songs from the others but never got round to going....now how long was Les Mis at the Cambridge Theatre? 

 

 

It wasn't, as far as I know. It originated at the Barbican, transferred to the Palace, moved to the Queen's, recently had a short run at the Gielgud, & has now just re-opened at the Queen's which has been re-named the Sondheim.

 

I've seen most of ALW's shows & have liked most of them, apart from Love Never Dies where I hated the plot & what had been done to the characters, & even then I liked some of the music. Cats I loved on CD & the video of the filmed stage production but not so much when I saw it live. I suppose I have hopelessly plebian tastes for enjoying ALW's music but I'd rather hear him than a lot of modern classical composers.

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48 minutes ago, alison said:

Perhaps someone on here will actually go and watch the film and report back, as opposed to people reacting to the opinions of others?

 

Well it did only open yesterday, and it is a rather busy time of year. :) If I go it won't be until January, but I still want to know how it's being received.

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10 hours ago, Lindsay said:

I think those engaged in higher level music education know that ALW's work is musically banal with a generous topping of ersatz emotional manipulation.  And of course, the reason Roger Waters has a problem with ALW's "genius" has long been known:

 

An astute businessman - undoubtedly.  An artist - hardly.....

Wow.  What a pity the great unwashed don’t appreciate  that his work is musically banal, a fact which you state with such certainty it simply must be true.  Or maybe they do and they just don’t care, them preferring to enjoy themselves on an evening  out watching a dramatic storyline unfold through catchy tunes and enjoyable music,  there being no Tippett  or Stockhausen on at their local Dog and Duck. You’ll be telling me they read the Daily Mail next.

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4 hours ago, Dawnstar said:

 

It wasn't, as far as I know. It originated at the Barbican, transferred to the Palace, moved to the Queen's, recently had a short run at the Gielgud, & has now just re-opened at the Queen's which has been re-named the Sondheim.

 

I've seen most of ALW's shows & have liked most of them, apart from Love Never Dies where I hated the plot & what had been done to the characters, & even then I liked some of the music. Cats I loved on CD & the video of the filmed stage production but not so much when I saw it live. I suppose I have hopelessly plebian tastes for enjoying ALW's music but I'd rather hear him than a lot of modern classical composers.

No, Dawnstar, you don’t have hopelessly plebeian tastes.  What you are is eclectic and wide-ranging in your artistic and cultural outlook. More importantly, you have the courage to be open about what you enjoy, even in the face of those whose narrow viewpoint leads them to condemn what they personally do not like.  And then we get the herd mentality that we see so much of on messageboards where the perceived view is never gainsaid  
 

I am a great fan of ALW’s work which has done so much to keep musical theatre alive and well and provided excellent entertainment for millions all over the world.  Oddly, this doesn’t make me or others like me (not that I expect anybody on this board to signal  agreement) any less able to  appreciate classical music, opera or ballet.  I can even manage to appreciate The Times and The Guardian as well as the Daily Mail!

 

Raven Girl or Phantom?  No contest.
 


 

ONS

Edited by penelopesimpson
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5 hours ago, Beryl H said:

I saw Cats and surprisingly disliked it, apart from Graham Fletcher's dancing, but loved Phantom, Evita, Sunset Boulevard, and the more recent Stephen Ward in which he certainly didn't dumb down ( probably why it had a short run, that's the problem) but was a serious modern musical work.

Beryl, I saw Stephen Ward, too, and thought it was brilliant and a bit of a leap forward for ALW.  Thought it was really sad and discouraging for him that it never took off.  I share your view in not liking Catd, although I never quite understood why.  Also thought Aspects was seriously underrated - it was quite complex musically but I suppose it lacked the catchy tunes of Evita and Phantom.

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On 20/12/2019 at 18:01, Fiz said:

Too easy to sing, Lin. 

I had always assumed that it was to do with copyright - AIUI, ALW/Really Useful are extremely controlling and litigious in this area. Schools that perform Joseph aren't allowed to sell DVDs to parents etc (unless, possibly, huge licence fees are paid). I think that's the reason that gymnasts (at least at the levels I've been involved with) aren't allowed to use ALW (or Disney) music to their routines.

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3 hours ago, alison said:

Perhaps someone on here will actually go and watch the film and report back, as opposed to people reacting to the opinions of others?

Has nobody (else) here seen it?! I went on Friday evening expecting the worst and came away thinking it's not great, but not THAT bad.

OK, so I'm still in love with Francesca - she is just so adorable. Her singing (I presume it really is her) was very nice and simple - it suited her role.

I didn't much care for the music. I've not seen the stage show, but am familiar with the bigger numbers (as is everyone!).

We did like most of the dancing, although at times there was a great deal of unnaturalness - I presume it's been heavily subjected to computer videoshopping. I wasn't expecting so much ballet from the backing dancers, but they seemed very competent. Hayward's eyes are so mesmerising, though.

I can see that most people would not like it at all, and I can see that it would work better as a stage show. 

Some people did walk out - first time I've seen that in a long time.

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I saw this last night and enjoyed. As a spectacle of song and dance, there's lots of great moments and Francesca Hayward was wonderful in a role even larger than I'd expected.

 

I didn't have any problem with the cat suits - not sure how they were done but for me they just had the appearance of people wearing cat costumes with some cgi to enhance a few details - mainly face and tails.

 

It was great to see Steven McRae's tap skills on film. I thought his singing was fine.

 

It's not a film to see for a gripping storyline. But to just enjoy the singing and dancing, it's really nice.

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22 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

I'm intending to go and see Cats and will report back when I have.

 

Bad reviews don't necessarily mean bad films or even films that won't do well at the box office ... Blade Runner, Dirty Dancing and Pretty Woman are three that spring to mind that were universally panned on original release but all did really well at the box office and actually gave a heck of a lot of people a heck of a lot of pleasure.

 

Some of my favourite films were initial failures at the Box Office, only achieving popularity when they were released for home viewing.  They include This is Spinal Tap, Terminator (the first one), and the Shawshank Redemption.  I was put off going to see another film by the reviews from the critics, which I later saw on tv and thought was marvellous.  That was Master and Commander, and to this day I regret they never did the follow up.   

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7 minutes ago, Fonty said:

 

Some of my favourite films were initial failures at the Box Office, only achieving popularity when they were released for home viewing.  They include This is Spinal Tap, Terminator (the first one), and the Shawshank Redemption.  I was put off going to see another film by the reviews from the critics, which I later saw on tv and thought was marvellous.  That was Master and Commander, and to this day I regret they never did the follow up.   

Oh, Fonty, I adored Master and Commander and have never understood why they didn’t extend the franchise.  It was so much more than a seafaring thing.  The chemistry between the two men was touchingly brilliant and that last  scene where they both play together is magical.  Did you know that Paul Bethany spent several months at Russell Crowe’s house  learning to play?  They would sit looking out to sea as they had tuition, lovely image.

Edited by penelopesimpson
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10 minutes ago, penelopesimpson said:

Oh, Fonty, I adored Master and Commander and have never understood why they didn’t extend the franchise.  It was so much more than a seafaring thing.  The chemistry between the two men was touchingly brilliant and that last  scene where they both play together is magical.  Did you know that Paul Bethany spent several months at Russell Crowe’s house  learning to play?  They would sit looking out to sea as they had tuition, lovely image.

 

Totally agree, Penelope.  The franchise wasn't extended because it barely covered its costs at the cinema.  I think part of that was due to lukewarm reviews, where the critics seemed to be concentrating solely on how porky Russell Crowe looked in many of the scenes, and totally ignoring the quality of the acting, story, and as you say, the chemistry between the two leads.  As a result, the audiences stayed away in droves.  I never take much notice of critics, and I think Crowe is an excellent actor.  I would have gone to see it, but it came and went so quickly I never got the chance.

 

And on that topic, if you want to see Cats, you might need to get in quick.  Cinema management won't keep it on long if they don't sell enough tickets.

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