Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022

[Jules]

Looks like the cast is going to be new in comparation with the Edinburgh cast, I hope that at least the main roles are the same.

Me too, I would love a reunion of the Edinburgh cast.
But I remember checking the availability of Adam Pearce for the scheduled Old Vic run in 2020 and he was already booked for The Prince of Egypt at the Dominion Theatre at that time. So we are likely to see some fresh faces and hear some new voices.

I missed Adam Pearce in this new adaptation, the guy doing Viktor doesn't fit so well on the Russian character like Adam did, I guess that's the reason why "Lone Star State" song is removed from Local Hero.

I feel the same way.
Ben and Victor of Edinburgh had better singing voices as well as stronger personalities on stage.
Both Stellas and Gordons were excellent.
Mac's stage presence in Chichester was mindblowing and one of the highlights of the evening, but I have to say that his singing vocie was not as good as in Edinburgh.
Just my subjective impressions.
As concerns the cutting of several MK songs this clouds Daniel Evans' work on the Chichester version considerably and leaves me more than a little sad.
"Barrel of Oil" is a clear improvement but one of my two favourite ballads of the musical "I wonder if I can go home again" was altered if not butchered.

I agree with all you say.

Mac is indeed very very good and gives to the character of Mac all he really needs, but Damian had a more powerful voice so when GAbriel Ebbert had to sing, something was missing, althiugh his singing is good, it wasn't so powerful, but in a balance, I liked him more.

Ben was ok althought it was better in Edinburgh, but the actor who did Happer made the character looks very ridicoulous, when in Edinburgh you could feel more similarities with Burt Lancaster.

But what was more evident was the character of Viktor, in Edinburgh, Adam Pearce clearly takes the stage and focussed all the looks on him, the actor doing it in Chichester was just ok, but nothing to write home about,

"Barrel of Oil" was an impressive way to start the show, clearly improved, but it is true that the cut of some songs, specially during the second half, substitued by a lot of chat made it a little more boring as, this is a musical after all.

In general, I liked that some songs are new, that some of the old ones have new music, and sometimes even new lyrics, as it gives the impression that you are seeing something different.

After the show, having dinner with some friends, I told to one that only attended Chichester, "You are lucky as you didn't attend Edinburgh, so you lived this show without any previous version of it to compare with", actually he liked it a lot.

[skydiver]

I think both versions of the play are good and worth seeing.

Jbaent and goon525, apart from the acting what is your impression on the overall two stagings of the play?

To me Daniel Evans' version is more compact, more streamlined, more powerful and expressive whereas John Crowley's version was more intimate, more charming, more nuanced and more poetic.

Seen through the glasses of an MK fan, the Edinburgh staging suited MK better as a songwriter and a poet whereas Chichester "forced" the energetic MK more to the foreground ("Barrel of Oil" and the lovely instrumental interludes with MK style guitar).

Crowley gave Mark's vision more space with more of his little character study songs whereas Evans pushed through more of his own take on the story and thus Mark's songs did not have as much weight and that could be the reason why some of them were cut.

[Jules]

Regarding the stage, I liked aspects from both, in Edinburgh the lights (northern lights specially) were more spectacular and having the scale model of the village behind was nice, but in Chichester, that silver wave was good to project things, but the northern lights were not so good, but I loved the beach thing, it gives you more reality to the beach scenes.

Also I liked a lot in Edinburgh for the Ceilidh scenes that the whole band joined the actors on stage, but in Chichester only the fiddle and accordion, the stage was smaller in comparation but left that scenes a little more simple.

Both visions are ok, and in fact, I would mixed them for a new version if it gets to London or other place, but for the obvious thing was adaptation to the stage, as the one in the Minerva Theatre is peculiar as most of the stage is surrounded by the crowd, while in the Lyceum, is a normal theater with all the audience in front of the stage, and the stage of usual size for a theater.

The main difference between must be the fact that Crowley focused on the songs and Evans in the text, so the stage (the beach) was more important when you have characters talking most of the time, Crowley needed less elements than Evans in my opinion, but in the end, are the actors who are important on giving that stage a life.

Daniel Evans managed to give Mac and Gordon a more human perspective, you can grow feelings for both or them, while John Crowley's characters were a kind of cold personalities, Mac seemed to not have feelings at all, and Gordon to be just interested about the money, both characters in Chichester production show more depth, more human feelings, more soul, and also both are renowned actors.

[superval99]

Would someone who attended both Edinburgh and Chichester give their comparison of the two versions of "Filthy, Dirty, Rich" please?   This was one song that still makes me laugh when I think of "Gordon" cavorting around the table - it was hilarious!   

[skydiver]

Would someone who attended both Edinburgh and Chichester give their comparison of the two versions of "Filthy, Dirty, Rich" please?   This was one song that still makes me laugh when I think of "Gordon" cavorting around the table - it was hilarious!   

In my memory "Filthy, Dirty, Rich" was as strong and good as three and a half year ago, it features prominently in the play and was performed very well. Text and melody did not change considerably as far as I remember. And yes, Gordon is dancing again...
The same goes for two other musical pearls "Cheerio Away You Go" and for "Houston We Have A Problem", both as beautifully performed as before.

[superval99]

Would someone who attended both Edinburgh and Chichester give their comparison of the two versions of "Filthy, Dirty, Rich" please?   This was one song that still makes me laugh when I think of "Gordon" cavorting around the table - it was hilarious!   

In my memory "Filthy, Dirty, Rich" was as strong and good as three and a half year ago, it features prominently in the play and was performed very well. Text and melody did not change considerably as far as I remember. And yes, Gordon is dancing again...
The same goes for two other musical pearls "Cheerio Away You Go" and for "Houston We Have A Problem", both as beautifully performed as before.

Thank you!

[Jules]

Would someone who attended both Edinburgh and Chichester give their comparison of the two versions of "Filthy, Dirty, Rich" please?   This was one song that still makes me laugh when I think of "Gordon" cavorting around the table - it was hilarious!   

I liked a lot the way is done in Chichester because, spoilers alert, Gordon realise after his meeting with Mac, little by little, that they are going to be Filthy dirty rich, and that slow, little by little reaction, made it even funnier.

Also this Gordon has more depth and soul, so you can feel like, when you are doing anything, and suddenly realise something that makes you very happy, is something you can feel along the character of the play. This actor, who never did a musical before, was exceptionally good, and he sung very well all his parts, you don't notice it is his first musical at all.

[superval99]

Would someone who attended both Edinburgh and Chichester give their comparison of the two versions of "Filthy, Dirty, Rich" please?   This was one song that still makes me laugh when I think of "Gordon" cavorting around the table - it was hilarious!   

I liked a lot the way is done in Chichester because, spoilers alert, Gordon realise after his meeting with Mac, little by little, that they are going to be Filthy dirty rich, and that slow, little by little reaction, made it even funnier.

Also this Gordon has more depth and soul, so you can feel like, when you are doing anything, and suddenly realise something that makes you very happy, is something you can feel along the character of the play. This actor, who never did a musical before, was exceptionally good, and he sung very well all his parts, you don't notice it is his first musical at all.

Thank you, too!       I would have liked to have been there. 

[goon525]

Filthy Dirty Rich is such a cracker in both productions. It’s well worth its reprise in the second half. Trying to remember my reactions to the show more generally (it is quite hard after 3.5 years) I think Edinburgh had more charm, and made more of the growing relationship between Mac and Stella. Even though I had a smile on my face almost throughout last week, I think I’ll have fonder memories of Edinburgh. Either is worth seeing!

The Telegraph review (yes, it’s a major national) is much the best of the nationals, but you need to subscribe to get full access. Can anyone provide a copy?

[Jules]

Filthy Dirty Rich is such a cracker in both productions. It’s well worth its reprise in the second half. Trying to remember my reactions to the show more generally (it is quite hard after 3.5 years) I think Edinburgh had more charm, and made more of the growing relationship between Mac and Stella. Even though I had a smile on my face almost throughout last week, I think I’ll have fonder memories of Edinburgh. Either is worth seeing!

The Telegraph review (yes, it’s a major national) is much the best of the nationals, but you need to subscribe to get full access. Can anyone provide a copy?

Actually the "Filthy dirty rich" reprise is substituting the song "Get a move on" from the Edinburgh show.

There is a transcription already in this thread some pages back of the Telegraph.

One thing that kind of annoys me from the Chichester show is that the song "Numbers" is so much changed that a line I loved from Edinburgh "Tell me how long, is forever", was sung very nicely in Edinburgh, in a very dreamy way, but in Chichester the song sounds quite jazzy and it loose the feeling.

[dmg]

Filthy Dirty Rich is such a cracker in both productions. It’s well worth its reprise in the second half. Trying to remember my reactions to the show more generally (it is quite hard after 3.5 years) I think Edinburgh had more charm, and made more of the growing relationship between Mac and Stella. Even though I had a smile on my face almost throughout last week, I think I’ll have fonder memories of Edinburgh. Either is worth seeing!

The Telegraph review (yes, it’s a major national) is much the best of the nationals, but you need to subscribe to get full access. Can anyone provide a copy?

Actually the "Filthy dirty rich" reprise is substituting the song "Get a move on" from the Edinburgh show.

There is a transcription already in this thread some pages back of the Telegraph.

One thing that kind of annoys me from the Chichester show is that the song "Numbers" is so much changed that a line I loved from Edinburgh "Tell me how long, is forever", was sung very nicely in Edinburgh, in a very dreamy way, but in Chichester the song sounds quite jazzy and it loose the feeling.

That's interesting.  "Filthy Dirty Rich" was one of the better songs I thought and quite a fun, up-tempo number (as Goon525 says).  They probably gauged the audience reactions in Edinburgh for the shows down south.

[goon525]

I think the Telegraph article copied above was a puff about the production rather than a review. There is a subsequent 4 star review, which is what I hoped would be copied here.

[goon525]

With thanks to David for advice on access, here’s the 4 star Telegraph review:

It is easy to tell a cautionary tale of development: big money comes in, bulldozes over nature, history and community. Another cliché is the story of an arrogant city-dweller finding their view on life transformed by the ways of more simple rural folk. The strength of this production of Local Hero is that it draws on such narrative tropes, but injects them with an irreverence and an existential philosophy to create a far more interesting production than most other musicals on the UK stage.

Adapted from Bill Forsyth’s beloved 80s film, Local Hero tells the tale of slick Texan oil exec Mac MacIntyre (Tony award-winner Gabriel Ebert, in his UK stage debut), who is sent to the Scottish fishing village of Ferness to convince the locals to sell up to allow the building of a new oil refinery. Most of the villagers are, perhaps surprisingly, more than happy to oblige. But there are two crucial objectors: young hotel cook Stella – played with bright-eyed fire by Lillie Flynn – and beach-dwelling Old Ben, who lives off whatever is sent his way by the Gulf Stream, and is played with riddling wisdom by Hilton McRae.

Original music from Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler – some new, some from his score for the film – combines with Sasha Milavic Davies’s choreography, and design from Frankie Bradshaw, to create dazzling set pieces filled with period colour. The action opens with a chaotic jazzy skit that is a Reaganomic fever dream in the oil Mecca of Houston, complete with chunky 80s computers, big hair, and even bigger shoulder pads. Suddenly, though, the suits are gone, and an array of quirky villagers in knitted Arran Island jumpers are in their place. The silver boardroom becomes a sandy beach, and electric guitar is replaced with a fiddle.

The pace of the village is slow: a ceilidh before the interval seems to stretch on for about half an hour, making it feels like we are a fly-on-the-wall in a real-life village, as opposed to watching a plot-driven moral tale. This arena allows for a spiritual exploration of our purpose in life: some of us, like Old Ben, operate in synchronicity with the subterranean rhythms of the world, while others of us, like the Knox Oil Corporation, seek only to exploit them.

Local Hero blends exuberant musical comedy with an anti-capitalist cautionary tale and rumination on our place in the universe. David Greig’s script also shows a strong appreciation for the random, including a largely dissatisfying central love story, a Trump-like oil company boss with an obsession with the cosmos, and a bathetic conclusion that reminds us how so often things do not work out as intended. It is also a wonderfully evocative homage to coastal Scottish life: I had Gaelic folk tunes ringing through my head all the way back to London.

[Jules]

A very interesting pre-show talk about the Local Hero musical, that explains why it was canceled at the Old Vic, how it arrived to Chichester, how it was rewriten and I seems to understood that suggest there is a future for it...

Also explains about how MK, Guy, David Greig and Daniel Evans worked together at British Grove to get this new version ready. Fun to know Evans was offered a video of the Edinburgh represetntations and refused to watch it.

[skydiver]

A very interesting pre-show talk about the Local Hero musical, that explains why it was canceled at the Old Vic, how it arrived to Chichester, how it was rewriten and I seems to understood that suggest there is a future for it...

Also explains about how MK, Guy, David Greig and Daniel Evans worked together at British Grove to get this new version ready. Fun to know Evans was offered a video of the Edinburgh represetntations and refused to watch it.

Great find, thanks!