Le monde des musicals

Version 1

Too close to the sun (2009-07-Comedy Theatre-London) FLOP

Type de série: Original
Théâtre: Harold Pinter Theatre (Londres - Angleterre)
FLOP
Durée : 2 semaines
Nombre :
Première Preview : Thursday 16 July 2009
Première : Friday 24 July 2009
Dernière : Saturday 08 August 2009
Mise en scène : Pat Garret •
Chorégraphie : ???? ???? •
Producteur :
Avec : Helen Dallimore (Mary), James Graeme (Ernest Hemingway), Christopher Howell (Rex De Havilland) , Tammy Joelle (Louella)
Commentaires : the knives were out for this show even before it opened. It was written and produced by John Robinson, who four years earlier had been responsible for “The Man in the Mask”, the biggest flop of the season. During previews, which started on July 16 th , the actor Jay Benedict walked out, and his role was taken over with less than a week’s notice by Christopher Howell. By the time the show had its official opening there were reports of many audience walk-outs, and “Too Close to the Sun” had already been nicknamed “To Close on Sunday”. With nondescript tunes and lyrics that included lines like “My words explode right off the page/With a powerful narrative energy” the show was doomed, and came off on August 8 th , after just two weeks. One critic quipped: “To have written and produced one West End fiasco may be regarded as a misfortune; to have written and produced two, looks like hubris.”
Presse : MICHAEL BILLINGTON for THE GUARDIAN says, "Implausible and unnecessary musical...I wouldn't have minded a few tuneful Mediterranean ditties here in place of the instantly forgettable two dozen numbers by John Robinson that fatally clog the action."
DOMINIC MAXWELL for THE TIMES says, "Too Close to the Sun is pretty dire. But it’s such a muted, muddled experience, such a waste of time and talent, that there’s not really much to snigger about...It’s not good; it’s not so bad it’s good. It’s just bewilderingly drab." RHODA KOEING for THE INDEPENDENT says, "Stilted production...Robinson's trite music pootles about aimlessly and tunelessly, and the lyrics (a Robinson-Trippini collaboration) eschew rhyme as well as reason." CHARLES SPENCER for THE DAILY TELEGRAPH says, "Of more than 20 musical numbers, there isn’t one that either delights or lodges itself in the memory...Pat Garrett’s production plods through this rubbish heap of a show with leaden tedium." FIONA MOUNTFORD for THE EVENING STANDARD says, "The dialogue is flat and the music peculiar, with song after identical song coming over all difficult and resolutely tune-free. "