Opening Night

6th March 2024. Just watched opening night of "Opening Night"… Sheridan was as excellent as ever and I struggle to understand why she would be involved in such a dire musical.

Wainwright’s score is as whiny and depressing as ever and no stage gimmick can hide this car crash.
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6th March 2024. Thought it was absolutely bizarre. So disappointed. Best part was the finale number. Disjointed to say the least.
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6th March 2024. So I wasn't the only one who thought it astonishingly bad. A dream team of talent wasted on an almost incoherent script. I want all productions to do well, so I hope they can salvage something during the previews.
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I sat in Grand circle seat B7, but looked at the view from other locations. The front curtain for this production is a semi-transparent gauze, so it is quite easy to assess the view beforehand and in the interval. I paid £30 on Todaytix rush, which I would regard as fair to good value (by current west end standards!).

Video is integral to this production, with two camera crew roaming the stage throughout except for a few specific moments without video or with an overhead camera. There is a large screen at the rear of the stage and video monitors at either side of the Royal and Grand Circles. Some of the acting directed towards the camera, and some action takes place offstage - it is unclear how much of this is live or recorded. However, there is one specific moment that must be recorded, because the video intentionally does not correspond to the action on stage.

For the live action, I think it is important to be able to see the on-stage screen, because it would destroy the concept to need to keep looking away from the stage for the monitors (they are right at the sides).

From my seat (Grand circle B7), I could see around 85% of the height of the screen, interrupted slightly by lighting fitments. I did not find this annoying. The view from seats closer to the centre of the block is probably worse, because the central speaker cluster gets in the way. Annoyingly, these lights were flown in slightly for only one scene mid way through the second act, but were not flown out afterwards.

However, by Grand Circle row D, you can only see the bottom half of the screen, and by the back row you cannot see it at all.

Sitting at the sides is less of a problem provided that you can see the rear screen, because any action at the side is shown on the screen. In any case, for this production almost all of the main action is in a small area in the centre of the stage.

You probably know the theatre well enough to extrapolate these comments to the other seating blocks.

General comment about B7:
You can see most of the stage apart from downstage left. Because of the steep angle of the seating, the heads of audience in row A do not obstruct the view - especially as they do not need to lean forward to see over the circle front.

Comments about the production:
I will not spoil your enjoyment by detailed comments. From the reviews giving from one to four stars, you can tell that it is not to everyone's taste. The structure is more episodic than narrative. The greatest weakness is that none of the characters attract sympathy (at least, mine!). There is an incongruous change of gear in the final few minutes, in an attempt to provide an uplifting ending.

The set and production is very basic and, apart from the size of the band (who are unmasked in the stage right wing) could comfortably fit in many fringe venues. I wonder if it was designed ahead of knowing which theatre would be available.

The title has an uncomfortable association with 'closing night'.

Audience warning:
There is an extended period of totally strobe lighting in the second act - far more pronounced than I have ever previously experienced in a theatre production.

My overall rating: Interesting, but ultimately not a success. I am not tempted to see it a second time (and I saw both' Come from Away' and 'The Little Big Things' three times).
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have seen Opening Night tonight (3rd April 2024), what an absolute mess. Sadly not in the "so bad it's good" category, it's just bad throughout. Well several of the performers are great but the material they've been given is the problem here.

I had Stalls A8. This is *brilliant* if you have an interest in theatre tech and want a rare glimpse at the almost completely raw Gielgud stage and all its workings, there's no side or top masking, just one big giant stage, all the mechanics and the true width of the space are nicely on show. A8 is front row and nothing to the side (well there's a set of steps up to the stage but they weren't used), leg room is great in all of row A.

I can't remember if the Gielgud has much of an orchestra pit but if it does it's not there for this show. The band are all sat on the audience-left side of the stage, there is one scene that takes place on the extreme other side of the stage but it's all on the big screen so I didn't miss it. 

I think this is one show where it's important to sit quite far forward so that you can see the whole of the giant video screen, which is almost at the back of the stage and high up. I had a wander around at the interval and there's no way you'll see the whole screen from any of the back rows. They do have little monitors at the sides for the back rows but you'll be constantly watching those rather than the stage.

If anything the big screen is hugely overused. Might as well be sitting in the cinema for a lot of the show. The problem is that when the director puts things on that big screen, often the actors are then needlessly performing with their backs to the audience, which I found highly irritating. Quite often the screen shows something different to what's actually centre stage and you've got to try to watch both. And in one scene they kept focussing the camera on to different minor-part cast or even a couple of the crew, full headshot. The trouble is you've no idea who those people are supposed to be playing, they're just randoms on stage, it makes no sense. The big screen is nowhere near as cleverly or as sparingly used as the big screen in the recent 'Sunset Blvd,' or the Donmar's 'Human Body.' I would say that the show could have totally done without the big screen, however given that it does now have the big screen, unfortunately the subsequent positioning of the actors means that you do need to be able to see it.

There is one absolutely bonkers scene (I won't spoil what happens in it) towards the second half of the second act where they go full out with serious strobe lighting, pulsating LED fixtures, crazy visuals on the screen, and a pounding bass line, for several minutes. Please warn anybody who is sensitive to sensory overload about that scene. I'm amazed that there were no advance warnings posted around the theatre about it. Maybe the frequency of the strobes is cleverly non-triggering but even I (who loves to see exciting stage lighting) found that scene overloading.

This may need spoiler tags, but the much touted "outdoors" scene is a let down as well. At my performance tonight she basically just walked in from the Stage Door and onto the stage. Very little of the "crawling in the street" that newspapers have been claiming.

Don't be tempted to leave at the interval, as many are doing. The very last ten minutes or so of act two is actually quite good. Relative to the rest anyway. Sheridan gets to sing something powerful and then they reprise the only catchy number in the show for the curtain call.

Final advice, do not pay full price for this, get it cheap on theatremonkey ticketshop, as I should have done!
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Let's start with our seats, G15 and 16 in the Dress Circle. Great clear view, good legroom and the bar and facilities were nearby.

I really really liked the show . I have no idea how people were confused by the plot or bored. It was a bit chaotic but it's not a musical like Legally Blonde etc, I suspect many who walked out were expecting a similar show as it had the same star.

It's quite complex and they do overdo the video but I thought it was totally beguiling. Brilliantly performed, Sheridan Smith really is a star and turns in a superb performance, Nicola Hughes, Sira Hass and Hadley Fraser give fantastic performances.

The songs are great, although I can't see a cast recording becoming available but I'm sure Rufus Wainwright will set some tracks down himself, some are moving and others upbeat, Magic, The Pantomime and Ready for Battle were amazing. The supporting cast are great and the sound and lighting work really well. Great band as well.

Solid 4 stars from me, sorry to see it closing so early!

Taljaard