December 8th - New Cast

[Julie Fan]

Ok we had NO plans to go and see Q again for the forseeable future - if at all but my boyfriend and I both said that we would be curious to see the new cast at some point. Well curiosity got the better of him after only 1 week and as I steped off the train in London on Saturday, ready for Christmas in NY, I was told that we had to rush back to his place to drop off my cat - who always travels with me - and then come back in because he had booked Q tickets God I love him LOL

So we arrive and nervously await the performance. Now we were prepared for things to not be slick and for there to be mistakes - it was their first week after all - and we were also prepared for new interpretations of the characters.

We got there to find that Delroy had the week off so we had Matthew - who I hadnt seen before. But thank god Mary was there!! - (insert bear voice) YAY!!

What you all really wanna know is how they all did - here are my thoughts a few days later

Daniel Boys - He was really good, very like Jon to be honest and his performance was really polished and you wouldnt have thought it was his first week - out of all of them, including a Christmas Eve that has been an understudy, he did the best job! - I havent seen Daniel before, not even on the TV thingy, so had no expectations of him and when I saw him interveiwed about Q my concerns were for how he would do as Rod - NOTHING to worry about and infact at Rods coming out he camped him up one more extra notch that was fabulous as the newly openly gay Rod.

Rebecca Lock - Hmmm I'll save that one till last

Christopher Fry (Brian) - In our opinion he needs to be much larger in his performance. He doesnt have the advantage of Siaan (sp?) physicality and he blended too much into the background to the point you forget he is in the cast at all

Mark Goldthorp - I think given a bit more time and he will be really good with Nicky but he needs to do more work with Trekie. He has a slightly different take on Nicky than Simon and Chris do so he really is a sorta new Nicky but its not bad at all and think he will come into his own. --- He also needs to get used to working with MAry because he did forget her on occasions LOL but this is only natural.

Yanie - She has a different tke on Christmas Eve than Jen did. She has a more sarcastic nature and there was a lot in there that was different and we actually liked liked this new edge to the character - we were expecting a more polished performance from her but there were times when she was some what shaky

So that brings us back to Rebecca Lock - Now I know Im a Julie fan but at the end of the day I wasnt expecting her to be Julie, or as good as Julie or anything and we were giving her a real go but OMG!!!!!! - HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER, HATE HER!!!

Kate is now REALLY annoying - she blew most of her "jokes" even the REALLY simple ones. She has obviously listened to the CD because all Kates songs are exactly the same including the high sqeeky voice. Kate is now a flat one dementional character that you dont care about and dred coming back on stage

As for Lucy! - Well Lucy is now a transexual trucker called Dave with some strange deep speaking voice, not a scrap of a Southern accent, which you can forgive her for as this was a Julie thing BUT at the very end when she comes on for now she suddenly develops a Southern accent and sounds female-ish -- we concluded that the reason Lucy is "a virgin again" is that she finally had "the op"

Everything she did was half hearted, the dance stuff in Special was atrotious (sp?) at times she moved like tin man before being oiled and other times she barely did anything at all - this was the case in ALL songs, no head movement in Racist and you know the bit towards the end where the do the bit with "And everyone stopped being so PC" - well it was barely a wiggle and a slight bend of the knee!

With all the other actors you could still they were working on their characters and although they werent there yet you could see the direction they were going in and that there was potential there that they could shine in their own way but Rebbecca was terrifying and showed no potential for anything other than being really irratating!

Both my boyfriend and I have decided that there is NO WAY we could sit through another one of her performances and, as he is obsessed with Q even more than I am, when we go again in 3 months or so we will do our best to find out when Mary is on and wait to go then! - Mary btw did an excellent job as per usual but she also did well at compensaiting for errors like the two newbies not coming on during Purpose and then not having a clue where they were supposed to be going or what they were supposed to be doing!

In conclusion lots of potential, it will never be what it was but once you get past that it could still be a really good experience to go and watch, just make sure you go on one of Marys nights!!

[Danni]

Hey there Julie Fan (not sure of your real name).

Thank you for your review. I found it very interesting, esp about Rebecca. Maybe she will improve as time goes by. We don't know what Julie was like at the beginning of her run unless of course someone on here saw Q at the previews in 2006.

That's good that Daniel did a good job. With the other cast, there is always a number of preview shows before they get judged by press so hopefully they will continue to grow as a company

I'm going to wait till the Summer to see the new cast (tho they won't be new by then)

[robjimbobjam]

...

Should I be this scared about going to see it? I don't think I will now! Not until they've been doing it for a while anyways!

[Julie Fan]

Personally, if you can resiet temptation, I would leave it a month or so at least, let them settle in as it were.

We have all been spoilt with the performances that we have had from the old cast and with the new one of course it isnt going to be as slick so early on so I think, unless you have maybe only seen the show once then you should wait for a while before going again as you will just spot the errors etc and make comparrisons at this point - they also need time to make the characters their own.

I didnt list all the errors there were, that I remember, as there were many and it really wouldnt be fair on the new cast to do that - they have only had a 6 week rehersal period to not only learn the show but also how to puppeteer.

The audience still enjoyed the show, the applause wasnt as big as it had been previously, but I do have to say that when Mark Goldthorpe came on he got the usual big cheer for that character and then when Rebecca came on you would expect the same - we werent expecting the audience to go nuts as they did every time with Julie - but it actually dipped and she sort of rode off the back of Marks applause some what; at least that was our interpretation - Daniel got another big round of applause after her.

Mine is just one - or two if you count my boyfriend LOL - opinion and you may find other people think that Rebecca is awsome - how I dont know but there you go - please dont take what I have said and base this on your decision to go and make your mind up for yourselves, I would certainly be interested to see what other people think.

[sianysian93]

Well my next trip is on Feburary 1st so they would of had time to settle in by then

[prawna]

Thanks for the review.
Good to hear that Daniel is getting positive feedback and not just from us Daniel fans.

As for Rebecca Lock, when I saw her in September in another show she was really brilliant and stood out but I haven't seen her in Q yet so I can't comment for that as it is really a whole new set of skills.

Hopefully little things will get ironed out in the next few weeks and we will have a good cast.

[Jenno]

Guys,
Please remember that cast members do have access to this board.
Whilst you may not like a performance please be constructive in your critisism.

Thank you.

[ayeshashasha]

woo ! hey jenno!

*topic*

i havent seen new cast yet... today mum BANNED me from q. yes. BANNED ME.
wat julie fan says is right... dont just take her word for it, go see it urselves.. all new cast are shaky.... when mary started i really wasnt sure if i liked her! but now... LOVE HER! love her kate monster aswell. brilliant! takes time guys... :-)

[marke]

Seeing this on Friday Night and Looking forward to the new interpretations. You can expect a review on Sunday .

[crazeball]

admin said:

Guys,
Please remember that cast members do have access to this board.
Whilst you may not like a performance please be constructive in your critisism.

Thank you.

Sorry for being devil's advocate here but I think Julie Fan's criticism was constructive and reasonable. It might just be that I am used to reading far worse on other boards but she has made examples of what she didn't like and she clearly said she is aware this cast have just started and therefore wasn't going to list every single mistake as there are bound to be some in their performance.

However it does worry me a bit to read this:

errors like the two newbies not coming on during Purpose and then not having a clue where they were supposed to be going or what they were supposed to be doing!

Mainly because the people in the show are all professionals and therefore I would expect them to have at least learnt their cues and their blocking by now.

I had already decided to give it a good 3 months before I went again - there's a lot more shows who get priority for me at this point but I definitely mean to go, possibly some time around March.
Funnily enough I've always thought ever since cast change was announced that all the people who just come to London over Xmas would get a 'weaker' cast (not as in they are incapable but as in they are bound to still be finding their footing at the moment) and that it was slightly unfair to someone who gets to see a show just once a year. But ah well, these things happen, guess I should just consider myself lucky to live here.

On another note, has anyone seen I Love You Because? When I went to see it, in a group of six, we all turned to each other at the interval and said in unison how much Richard Frame (Jeff) reminded us of Nicky and would have been a perfect Nicky/Trekkie. I was quite shocked when the other two males were eventually cast in Q! Clearly Frame might not even have gone for the parts, for all I know, but I still find it ironic!

[ollietw]

POST REMOVED BY ADMIN.

[robjimbobjam]

Ollie! Don't be mean! As Jenno has said, the cast do have access to this and may read it. She looks fine anyways!

[ayeshashasha]

ollie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

u better remove that post now because if they see that theyre not gonna be happy. also, its just plain rude to post something like that. the internet is a dangerous place..be more sensible than that.

[ollietw]

I was talking about the headshot, not her as a person, I've never even met the woman, I'm sure she's lovely!

I just think that the headshot used in Q promotions seem to catch out those features.

Sorry if I've upset anyone, but I wasn't having a go at Rebecca. Just her photographer / headshot.

Ollie. xxx.