Snowdrop

Lovely to see all of these new reports, especially as I saw it early in the run. Technically, it was no longer in previews when I saw it, and there were to be no more re-writes, but it was still before press night, and I could see mention of "notes" and odd rehearsals on twitter, so I'm sure it improved with time, especially for the less experienced cast, and in scenes that were perhaps at the bottom of the queue when it came to attention from the director. I'm pleased to see you thinking that the guy playing Lucas was good. When I saw it, he stood out as someone who has great potential and his character shone when with the other geeks, but his solo song was a disappointment. It wasn't a lack of singing ability, but there was no light and shade and he was crying out for a bit of guidance in how to deliver a song like that effectively. That's down to the directors. Got to agree about Eliza too. To me, she was the stand out star of the whole cast. Obviously, Gareth was brilliant, but he wasn't stretched. Eliza had big songs and small songs and handled both with ease, and her character went on more of a journey (to coin a phrase), so her acting style had to vary to match. Most of the geeks stayed geeky, while the jocks stayed jocky! I did enjoy the Lil' Chris character, but I can easily see that it had the potential to become very annoying if he wasn't careful. He was praised in several of the reviews, and going by twitter, he's had a lot of positive feedback, but it's the kind of performance that has to be pitched right, and care needs to be taken not just to listen to your own fans and to think of what is appropriate in the show as a whole. I thought the guy playing Marvin was just as funny as Lil' Chris, but Lil' Chris went on tour with Busted, so he had a lot of ready-made fans in the audience who were egging him on. He is someone who I think has great potential, but it's up to the director to make sure his performance stays appropriate within the show.

The people of Yorkshire have definitely been treated lately! It's a great one for locals, but I wouldn't recommend travelling far if you are just there to see Gareth as it's a bit of a flying appearance going by the line-up they posted.

I'm so glad you managed another trip. Great photos too!

There's an offer on LastMinute.com to get Upper Circle seats for £10 + £2.50 booking fee. Perhaps someone who is local to the theatre who has been holding off because money is tight might fancy this? http://www.lastminute.com/site/entertainment/theatre/event-product.html?eventID=916276073-1&multipleIDs=916276073-1|1|1|1&ticketOnly=&catID=106291&view=&source=affaw-130630&awc=4329_1342121060_7140a3af067c02f50df5939f976c9e39

There's a nice little interview in today's Yorkshire Life website. http://yorkshire.greatbritishlife.co.uk/article/gareth-gates-on-coming-back-home-to-yorkshire-42395/

Lovely - and great to have a little insight into the show. It sounds really exciting. Can't wait!

It's not known as the Daily Fail for nothing! Inbetween being called the Daily Hate that is. For them, it's almost generous - and relatively kind to Gareth! I think they may have accidentally complimented Gareth by the suggestion that he looks like he's hardly trying. The singing is plainly well within his comfort zone, but if he's managing to give the same impression with his dialogue, then that's very impressive.

I'm glad you had a great time Sophie. Your mum does sound great.

Brilliant work there Detective Floz. That's the last night of Loserville, I wonder if the cast will be heading there for a bit of a last night party?

It's lovely to see them so excited. I'd like to think that one of the reasons they chose that location for rehearsals was that it is handy for Gareth. Just as well!

It looks like Gareth will be doing another interview soon. This person is asking for questions for Gareth ahead of his Wimbledon appearance! https://twitter.com/...LaurenWimbledon They've also announced who is going to be in the ensemble. http://www.facebook.com/momentousmusicals/posts/326363264115988

I think tonight might be a private gig - someone on twitter was talking about him doing something tonight. Edits - cross posted Heather. Clearly we have GREAT MINDS!

Haha - I think you are right! Well spotted.

Gareth is in the second half quite a lot doing acting, but he sings much more in the first half. I think the second half has more plot to squeeze in, whereas much of the first act is establishing characters, more group number with characters coming and going, so it all flows more easily. The second half definitely felt a bit more clunky, with some longer bits wth just one or two actors on stage at a time. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd spent more time rehearsing and tweaking the first act. But I think the longer sections of dialoge have something to do with it. A pause for us all to hear Gareth's beautiful voice would go down a treat! I do like the description from today's Observer that "Gareth Gates is deliciously wicked as the bullying class idol" I am also pleased they picked up on Richard Lowe as Lucas. I thought he showed a great deal of potential. Granted, I spent about half of his solo song thinking "I wish Gareth was singing this", but apart from that, I thought he gave a very assured performance for someone making their professional debut. I thought it was good that the woman on Radio Leeds, Clancy Walker, admitted that she'd got it wrong about Gareth and changed her mind after seeing her - I did think it was an odd thing for her to say. She must have known that Gareth has already done the West End, which is just as high a standard as Broadway. I know there are issue with work permits and visas, so there's much more to it, but as Gareth hadn't actually stated "I want to go to Broadway next", simply said, when prompted that it's something he'd like to do. She must have assumed Gareth was no more than stunt casting, and didn't believe Liz's rather vociferous and repeated claims that Gareth was fantastic in Les Miserables, and that (in the nicest possible way) she was shocked it was him! But even better that she changed her mind based on a role that is mainly acting. If that impressed her, she'd have had her socks blown off hearing Gareth singing some of the bigger songs he's already sung on the West End stage from Les Mis, or Miss Saigon, or even Joseph.