| re: Operation mincemeat—opinions. | |
| Posted by: sf 01:56 pm EDT 04/16/24 | |
| In reply to: Operation mincemeat—opinions. - dramedy 01:26 pm EDT 04/16/24 | |
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| The score is good. The show is very funny, and the five performers are superb (one of them - Jak Malone - also won an Olivier on Sunday, deservedly). On the one hand, yes, it's one of those rather tongue-in-cheek spoofy shows in which a handful of actors play a very large cast of characters, and switch characters (and genders) at the drop of a hat, and I sometimes have a limited tolerance for that kind of thing too. On the other, it does it *very* cleverly. And it knows when to go for the laugh, and when *not to*. One character - an older female secretary, but played by a man (Malone, and this is the reason he won the Olivier) gets an entirely serious song called 'Dear Bill' halfway through the first act, and it's played completely straight and is extremely moving (if you've seen the film, it's a song for the character played by Penelope Wilton). The show knows how to pull of that very difficult tonal shift absolutely confidently, and the fact that it can do that elevates it several steps above - well, above the show I was expecting when I went in not knowing a great deal about it beyond the basic story. The lyrics are very sharp, and the direction is superb. They performed a number on the Olivier Awards broadcast, and the clip is now on YouTube; it gives a reasonable impression of what a lot of the show is like, but there's more to it than that number might suggest. (It's also easy enough to find an audio clip of 'Dear Bill', and it's well worth hearing. It's a very lovely song, and Malone does a beautiful job of singing it. And the show's cast recording is excellent.) All of which is a long-winded way of saying I went in fairly sceptical, and absolutely loved it. |
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| Previous: | re: Operation mincemeat—opinions. - theaterisok 01:58 pm EDT 04/16/24 |
| Next: | The mother play. Spoilers at end. - dramedy 01:05 pm EDT 04/16/24 |
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