quadrophenia the stageshow

[paul]

One Word...........



































































SHIT.........

[Chrisb]

Seriously.... was it piss poor ? thinkin of goin on Friday... if it';s that bad I'll not bother

[Nige]

Obviously not your bag Paul but I never heard any complaints.
The band were shit hot and remember it's not a remake o the film



THE power-chords and preening mods might be correct but the plot is hardly present in this spangly new stage version of The Who's Quadrophenia – the 1973 rock-opera that called on youth movements to grow up or die.


As a live representation of the album, this is brilliant. Fans of The Who should come away with thoroughly satisfied eardrums.

The nine-piece onstage band do a sterling job with big throbbing bass lines, soaring string sections and tricky bits of
ADVERTISEMENTkeyboard all as they should be. There are a clutch of early Who and High Numbers tracks for good measure and it's loud enough too. However, the whole thing is far too complex.

Surely, this was an opportunity for the adaptation team to iron out the muddles which Pete Townshend gave to the original album. Townshend can at least be forgiven for that though, as it was a tricky time for the band.

Writer Jeff Young, MD John O'Hara and director Tom Critchley might deserve praise for some neat decisions concerning the way they represent the four different personalities of young mod Jimmy. Their storytelling, however, is dire.

We know, because it says so in the programme, that Jimmy's personality is split into a romantic (Ryan O'Donnell), a tough guy (George Maguire), a lunatic (Jack Roth) and a hypocrite (Rob Kendrick). Why, who represents which trait and what their relationships are to each other is never revealed.

We also know from the programme that the first half is set in London, where Jimmy becomes disillusioned. He then goes down to Brighton to try and rediscover the edge he experienced there over the bank-holiday battles between mods and rockers.

On stage, however, it's a succession of enactments of the various songs – and hardly the sort of combination of the stage arts worthy of being described as opera.

That the directorial team can tell a story is proven in the final twenty minutes of the show when, having run out of original songs, they use an interminable instrumental section as backing while they tie up the many loose ends.

If it's too little, too late, the actual performances should not pass without receiving their due credit.

Sydney Rae White has a terrific singing voice for The Girl, and gives Love, Reign Over Me – sensibly brought forward to the end of the first half with a big ending reprise – a sassy full-hearted rendition.

Ryan Gage has all the posses and moves for Ace Face, the top mod who Jimmy looks up to, but discovers is a lowly bellhop in real life. But it is Kevin Wathen as the Godfather who, outside of the four Jimmys, really gets into the numbers.

It's a great concept and the performances are strong, but they are all undone by inept direction.


Paul McGuire, 44, Tranent, builder: That was fantastic. I was a big fan of Quadrophenia when I was growing up. The band was excellent, very tight. They brought the album to life. It was nothing like the film, but if you had seen the film you would understand the concept.

Jim MacDonald, 42, unemployed, Tollcross: The band were really hot. I have not seen a lot of live theatre, but it was really innovative. I liked the way they had four actors playing the different aspects of Jimmy. The Godfather character had a cracking voice. The whole show got the essence of teen angst.

Scott Sneddon, 38, plumber, Dalkeith: The scooter looked great, it was really authentic. I am a fan of the Who and I've been into scooters for twenty odd years now and the music was excellent.

Naisha Upperton, 34, retail supervisor, Leith Walk: The first half was too slow to keep up with the story line. I could only get snippets that were relevant. The momentum came together in the second half but I thought the end was a bit self-indulgent.

[Chrisb]

cheers Nige ... I'll give it a bash

[paul]

I thought the band were shit hot.

I just feel that parts of the album were drawn on to far leaving too many loose ends.
also they seemed to make it far complex than it needed to be.



just remember that there is an interval and that it is not the end.............. a few peeps left or were about to after the first half

[scottie101]

thought it was great
the three that left was coyotes and had to get back think one did say he didnt like theatre but on a whole worthwhile and very good value for money especially merchandise £3.00 for a program or a patch or a pin

[NorryC]

its in the name quad(4) phonphenia ( scitzo) its no that im intelligent but a mod from the 80's told me in full ....cheers krawf

[Nige]

May 27, 2009 17:27:06 GMT 1 paul said:

I thought the band were shit hot.

I just feel that parts of the album were drawn on to far leaving too many loose ends.
also they seemed to make it far complex than it needed to be.



just remember that there is an interval and that it is not the end.............. a few peeps left or were about to after the first half

Couldnae really disagree with you on that, some pieces did drag on.
I think if somebody turned up, never reading the original story in the Album and expecting a remake o the film would be well fooked.
Lee asked where the postman van wis

[shep]

band-orchestra were tremendo........wiz a wee bit confusing but i thought that was the point,cos jimmy;s heed wiz fecked up...well worth a night oot

[pollyboy]

I thought it was braw especially the pre concert photo shoot on Porty promenade wi the Ace Face couldnae work oot the soft porn pics wi the top off tho

[krawf]

Superb night...............

Just a pity i thought it was the Rocky horror show
we were going to see............ wondered why they
never sung the Time Warp .......

I had my black bra and panties on as well........ ;D

[NorryC]

i heard shep had a thong & sussies on although he 4got to take it to kelso