A Mark In Time

Mark Knopfler Discussion => Local Hero Musical => Chichester 2022 => Topic started by: jbaent on March 03, 2022, 10:07:29 AM

Title: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 03, 2022, 10:07:29 AM
https://occ.emailsp.com/f/rnl.aspx/?imc=w4v3swz_f9jn=q_xdm0=_q_y_&x=pv&-7c.=.c7h6cd9i:h5j-g&x=pp&zw-g4c:6:cgx.-g=1twwwyNCLM

LOCAL HERO, CHICHESTER FESTIVAL THEATRE, UK
8 October – 19 November

We’re excited to announce that David Greig and Mark Knopfler’s Local Hero will be staged at Chichester Festival Theatre (CFT), running from 8th October - 19th November 2022 as part of this year’s Festival Season.

David Grieg’s book, based on Bill Forsyth’s iconic 1983 film, features new music and lyrics by Mark. The production will be staged in the 300-seat Minerva Theatre. We anticipate that it will be very popular so availability for the run will be extremely limited.

We are delighted to offer Mark Knopfler fans the exclusive opportunity to enter a ballot for tickets to one of the two Local Hero Fan nights - Thursday 27th October and Friday 4th November.


Registering for the ballot:
The ballot for the opportunity to purchase two tickets is now open to registrations via the CFT website, and closes at midday on 15th March.

When registering, you will need to choose which one of the two performances you would like to attend, at a maximum of 2 tickets.

If you have additional access requirements please state them on your ballot entry so that the Box Office team can handle your booking directly.

Successful entrants will be contacted on 16th March with a link to the presale and details of how to book. If you have not received an email by 6pm on 16th March, you should assume you have not been awarded seats in the ballot.
BALLOT REGISTRATION


Local Hero Fan Nights Presale:
The fan presale then opens on Thursday 17th March at 10am for the successful entrants.
Tickets are priced at £31 and £47. The seat selection will be first come, first served.


General Sale:
If you are not drawn in the ballot, there is another chance to purchase tickets when public booking for all performances opens at 9am on Saturday 19th March. Any unclaimed tickets for the two fan nights will also be released for sale at this time.
 
Anyone who misses out in the initial booking period should continue to keep an eye on the website for ticket releases and sign up to the CFT mailing list for updates about the show and any further presentations.

    Thursday 3rd March - Ballot registration opens for the chance to buy tickets to two Local Hero Fan nights - 27th Oct and 4th Nov
    Tuesday 15th March - Midday: ballot registration closes
    Wednesday 16th March - By 6pm: Successful ballot entrants emailed link and booking details
    Thursday 17th March - 10am: Local Hero Fan presale opens for successful ballot entrants
    Saturday 19th March - 9am: public booking opens for all performances

    See here for more information about Local Hero: www.cft.org.uk

MORE INFO

Follow Chichester Theatre:

instagram.com/chichesterft

facebook.com/chichesterfestivaltheatre

**Please note, all dates and times are UK (GMT), and Mark will not be appearing personally at any performance.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Knopflerfan on March 03, 2022, 10:09:15 AM
Yes, just received the email. Although it's being staged not far away from me I'm in no particular rush to see it again...

At least Guy in particular won't have far to travel to help set things up if nearby?!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on March 03, 2022, 10:17:45 AM
"Mark will not be appearing personally at any performance".

So will the two "fan nights" be any different from a normal performance night?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Knopflerfan on March 03, 2022, 10:19:40 AM
"Mark will not be appearing personally at any performance".

So will the two "fan nights" be any different from a normal performance night?

In short - no! They've just allocated some performances to MK fans with regards tickets
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on March 03, 2022, 10:25:36 AM
I really enjoyed seeing Local Hero in Edinburgh, but I'm sorry we won't be attending this time.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Knopflerfan on March 03, 2022, 10:26:20 AM
I really enjoyed seeing Local Hero in Edinburgh, but I'm sorry we won't be attending this time.

It was a great occasion wasn't it? Nice meal and then great theatre!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on March 03, 2022, 10:29:24 AM
I really enjoyed seeing Local Hero in Edinburgh, but I'm sorry we won't be attending this time.

It was a great occasion wasn't it? Nice meal and then great theatre!

Yes we both thoroughly enjoyed the show in Edinburgh and being with you both and dmg, but we both feel it's best to leave our good memories intact.   :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 03, 2022, 10:33:08 AM
Why you are not attending it in Chichester?

Would you attend it if was in London?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on March 03, 2022, 10:40:12 AM
Why you are not attending it in Chichester?

Would you attend it if was in London?

No, particularly not in London.  We just want to remember the show as it was in Edinburgh -  a lovely experience.   :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dmg on March 03, 2022, 11:31:17 AM
Why you are not attending it in Chichester?

Would you attend it if was in London?

No, particularly not in London.  We just want to remember the show as it was in Edinburgh -  a lovely experience.   :)

I'm of the same thoughts.  I'd rather attend in Chichester than London but after attending twice in Edinburgh and having a fantastic time with the gang I just don't see the point this time.

Maybe they'll get a bit of a shock at the take up, or lack of, ticket sales this time around.  The initial excitement has dissipated after the long delay too.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Knopflerfan on March 03, 2022, 11:41:45 AM
Why you are not attending it in Chichester?

Would you attend it if was in London?

Think we (superval & dmg) are of the opinion that we have seen it in Edinburgh where it had such an appeal but we are not fussed about Chichester or even London
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on March 03, 2022, 11:48:17 AM
I'd quite like to go to Chichester, especially if there was the prospect of an RAH style meet-up with all you guys at one of the fan nights, but I'm going to Amsterdam to see Jason Isbell in November so the prospect of two trips in one month.

Chichester should be easy to get to from Gatwick Airport.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 03, 2022, 12:46:49 PM
There are more information in this url

https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/event/local-hero

Creative team

Daniel Evans: Director
Frankie Bradshaw: Designer
Richard John: Musical Director
Guy Fletcher: Music Producer
Dave Milligan: Orchestrator & Arranger
Paule Constable with Ryan Day: Lighting Design
Paul Arditti: Sound Designer
Charlotte Sutton CDG: Casting Director
Ben Arkell: Production Manager

Some of them were already in the team during the Edinburgh run.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 03, 2022, 12:47:53 PM
I'd quite like to go to Chichester, especially if there was the prospect of an RAH style meet-up with all you guys at one of the fan nights, but I'm going to Amsterdam to see Jason Isbell in November so the prospect of two trips in one month.

Chichester should be easy to get to from Gatwick Airport.

Im think in going on Saturday 15th October with some Spanish friends. That's one month before the Isbell concert ;)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Knopflerfan on March 03, 2022, 01:45:50 PM
I'd quite like to go to Chichester, especially if there was the prospect of an RAH style meet-up with all you guys at one of the fan nights, but I'm going to Amsterdam to see Jason Isbell in November so the prospect of two trips in one month.

Chichester should be easy to get to from Gatwick Airport.

Just as easy perhaps for you to fly with Logan Air into Southampton then train to Chichester?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: cannibals on March 03, 2022, 02:41:21 PM
Guy on his forum:
Yes, it has just been announced. There are no London performances as yet and no, there is no CD cast album….yet.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on March 03, 2022, 02:52:56 PM
I'd quite like to go to Chichester, especially if there was the prospect of an RAH style meet-up with all you guys at one of the fan nights, but I'm going to Amsterdam to see Jason Isbell in November so the prospect of two trips in one month.

Chichester should be easy to get to from Gatwick Airport.

Just as easy perhaps for you to fly with Logan Air into Southampton then train to Chichester?

Was just thinking there might be more flights in and out of Gatwick. I'm more familiar with Gatwick as I have family in Crawley. :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on March 03, 2022, 04:47:10 PM
https://www.markknopfler.com/news/local-hero-chichester-festival-theatre-uk/
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 04, 2022, 12:45:49 PM
Looks like the Minerva theatre is really small... I already read that the capacity was 300, which is little for a theatre, but when you see pictures of it...
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 07, 2022, 12:38:48 PM
I wonder if the cast would be the same than in Edinburgh... The main characters were so good that I really hope at least they are the same, it would be rare if they choose another actors, but I don't know if in such a small theatre, they could afford the same actors.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on March 07, 2022, 12:47:13 PM
I wonder if the cast would be the same than in Edinburgh... The main characters were so good that I really hope at least they are the same, it would be rare if they choose another actors, but I don't know if in such a small theatre, they could afford the same actors.

Will depend on availability as well I guess.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 07, 2022, 12:53:24 PM
Also, reading the names of the creative team, the director for the Lyceum and Old Vic is not included, and they have a new director, linked with the Chichester theater, so I wonder if that's just for this representation, or something happened and the project was abandoned by previous director and it's in another hands now...

In the Chichester site it mentions that they productions usually went to the West End, other London theaters and even on tour throught the Uk and the world, and they keep them as "Chichester productions".

It's like after the pandemic, the people behind the Lyceum/Old Vic production said, well, no, we are not going ahead with this, and they needed someone else to take care of the production.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on March 07, 2022, 02:02:13 PM
I wonder if the cast would be the same than in Edinburgh... The main characters were so good that I really hope at least they are the same, it would be rare if they choose another actors, but I don't know if in such a small theatre, they could afford the same actors.

It would be lovely to see these actors again.
I spoke to one of them at the O2 show in 2019 and he said that they have to apply and audition again for the then planned London 2020 production.
So it is not automatically a given that they will all return.
Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 07, 2022, 02:07:03 PM
I wonder if the cast would be the same than in Edinburgh... The main characters were so good that I really hope at least they are the same, it would be rare if they choose another actors, but I don't know if in such a small theatre, they could afford the same actors.

I would also love to see these lovely actors and singers again.
I spoke to one of them at the O2 show in 2019 and he said that they have to apply and audition again for the then planned London 2020 production.
So it is not automatically a given that they will all return.
Let's keep our fingers crossed.

One of the actors was at the Mk show at the O2? so great!

Who was, if you remember?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on March 07, 2022, 02:19:15 PM
Adam Pearce was there with his grilfriend/wife and he was impressed by MK's performance.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 07, 2022, 02:27:41 PM
Viktor!

Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on March 07, 2022, 03:38:42 PM
Hopefully he will be back.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 12, 2022, 12:35:05 PM
If any of you are thinking of going to Chichester, read this:

This morning a friend of mine, who as an account as "friend of the Chichester theatre" bought tickets in a pre-sale, and first thing was being in a queue in position 900...

After all the wait, he managed to get tickets for our selected date, but there wasn't much to choose.

So, if any of you have doubts about going or not, solve the doubts soon, as it looks like it could sell very fast. The theater is small, around 300 of capacity.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on March 16, 2022, 06:31:19 PM
Just heard that I failed in the ballot for fans’ nights. So it’ll be 9am on Saturday then…
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Kris-b on March 16, 2022, 08:33:46 PM
Me too, hoping for Saturday then!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 17, 2022, 08:31:39 AM
If you become "friend of the theater" you can buy right now.

It's what I did and I bought my tickets last Saturday, and most of the best tickets sold pretty fast
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on March 19, 2022, 09:01:47 AM
Tickets go on-sale in one hour!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 01, 2022, 12:02:03 PM
Wow, it's been four months already since the musical dates were on sale, time flies!

Some of the dates have very little tickets remaining so if any of you is still thinking about going, take a look to the dates!

It's curious the cast hasn't been anounced yet, specially since the musical starts in four months, being summer in the middle, I thought they should had the cast already and plans to start rehearsals on September, but no news about it yet.

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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dmg on July 01, 2022, 01:34:34 PM
Wow, it's been four months already since the musical dates were on sale, time flies!

Some of the dates have very little tickets remaining so if any of you is still thinking about going, take a look to the dates!

It's curious the cast hasn't been anounced yet, specially since the musical starts in four months, being summer in the middle, I thought they should had the cast already and plans to start rehearsals on September, but no news about it yet.

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.

Considering the size of the venue you'd have thought it had been sold out by now.  Can't see it going to the West End now.

Maybe it's just me but I think they should really be announcing the main cast prior to putting tickets on sale so that people know who they're going to see.

The cast did well in Edinburgh I agree and it might even be difficult to accept others in these roles now I think.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Kris-b on July 01, 2022, 01:45:47 PM
Thank you for reminding me that I still have to book flights for this😀
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 01, 2022, 01:55:22 PM
Thank you for reminding me that I still have to book flights for this😀

LOL

You are welcome!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 01, 2022, 02:03:40 PM
Wow, it's been four months already since the musical dates were on sale, time flies!

Some of the dates have very little tickets remaining so if any of you is still thinking about going, take a look to the dates!

It's curious the cast hasn't been anounced yet, specially since the musical starts in four months, being summer in the middle, I thought they should had the cast already and plans to start rehearsals on September, but no news about it yet.

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.

Considering the size of the venue you'd have thought it had been sold out by now.  Can't see it going to the West End now.

Maybe it's just me but I think they should really be announcing the main cast prior to putting tickets on sale so that people know who they're going to see.

The cast did well in Edinburgh I agree and it might even be difficult to accept others in these roles now I think.

I think that they expect to sell out or almost when dates are closer, yes, it is true that the venue is small, but also it is in a city that doesn't attract people like Edinburgh or London, I know several people that didnt buy yet because of the city, and decided to wait until the dates are closer, which I think is a mistake if you are traveling from abroad, as the airport for Chichester is also Gatwick, so flights would be expensive the more you wait.

About going to the West End, I read in several sites that this festival is famus for revamping musicals and send them to the West End, that's why I guess they decided to do it there, when dates are closer they could do a press campaign that help that. Or maybe they already have arranged something for London on 2023 and this is just to keep the musical being represented somewhere and in the media, we can't really know.

I agree with the cast, but it also looks like plays for that festival has a cast selected specifically for it, which makes sense if you think this theatre is about 300 seats, having the cast of Edinburgh or London would had been economically impossible.

However, I still hope at least that at least Stella and Mac are the same from Edinburgh, the rest are not so important, althought Gordon was very good too!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dmg on July 01, 2022, 02:29:45 PM
Wow, it's been four months already since the musical dates were on sale, time flies!

Some of the dates have very little tickets remaining so if any of you is still thinking about going, take a look to the dates!

It's curious the cast hasn't been anounced yet, specially since the musical starts in four months, being summer in the middle, I thought they should had the cast already and plans to start rehearsals on September, but no news about it yet.

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.

Considering the size of the venue you'd have thought it had been sold out by now.  Can't see it going to the West End now.

Maybe it's just me but I think they should really be announcing the main cast prior to putting tickets on sale so that people know who they're going to see.

The cast did well in Edinburgh I agree and it might even be difficult to accept others in these roles now I think.

I think that they expect to sell out or almost when dates are closer, yes, it is true that the venue is small, but also it is in a city that doesn't attract people like Edinburgh or London, I know several people that didnt buy yet because of the city, and decided to wait until the dates are closer, which I think is a mistake if you are traveling from abroad, as the airport for Chichester is also Gatwick, so flights would be expensive the more you wait.


There's an airport in Southampton too.  It may well be cheaper to fly there and certainly less busy.  Worth checking out.

Chichester looks a very nice place.  I'm sure anyone going will have a great time there.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 01, 2022, 08:35:28 PM
At least from Spain, Southampton airport is more expensive and has less connection.

When I traveled to New Forest, I had to fly to Gatwick, and catch a train to Southampton by that reason.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on July 05, 2022, 02:47:44 PM
It's curious the cast hasn't been anounced yet, specially since the musical starts in four months, being summer in the middle, I thought they should had the cast already and plans to start rehearsals on September, but no news about it yet.

The cast for Woman in Mind, which runs a little earlier from 23 September – 15 October, has now been announced.
So hopefully we will know more "soon".
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on July 05, 2022, 04:03:43 PM
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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 05, 2022, 04:39:48 PM
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 understand that most of the cast, if not all, would be new, as the budget can't be the same, but I have hope that at least some of the main could repeat, but if they are all new, who knows, maybe they do it as good or even better!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on July 05, 2022, 04:47:25 PM
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 understand that most of the cast, if not all, would be new, as the budget can't be the same, but I have hope that at least some of the main could repeat, but if they are all new, who knows, maybe they do it as good or even better!

I just checked. My beloved "Victor" Adam Pearce is in MANDELA at the Young Vic from 29 November on, so no chance for me...
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 05, 2022, 07:59:40 PM
I wasn't expecting Adam Pierce on Chichester, actually I don't expect any of the "company" actors. I just hope at least Stella and Mac could be the same than in Edinburgh, as they were just perfect!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 19, 2022, 11:37:40 AM
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 understand that most of the cast, if not all, would be new, as the budget can't be the same, but I have hope that at least some of the main could repeat, but if they are all new, who knows, maybe they do it as good or even better!

I just checked. My beloved "Victor" Adam Pearce is in MANDELA at the Young Vic from 29 November on, so no chance for me...

Is there any way to check the other actors? I was trying with google but nothing  :hmm
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on July 19, 2022, 12:13:44 PM
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 understand that most of the cast, if not all, would be new, as the budget can't be the same, but I have hope that at least some of the main could repeat, but if they are all new, who knows, maybe they do it as good or even better!

I just checked. My beloved "Victor" Adam Pearce is in MANDELA at the Young Vic from 29 November on, so no chance for me...

Is there any way to check the other actors? I was trying with google but nothing  :hmm

Yes, there is. After Adam I also searched for Julian Forsyth (Ben). You can find their names in connection with current stage productions which overlap in time with the Chichester dates (or the required rehearsal time).
As I understand it, Julian will also not be available to play Ben (I would have loved his warm voice on the soundtrack):
https://www.londontheatre1.com/theatre-news/julian-forsyth-and-matthew-spencer-to-join-cast-of-the-woman-in-black/
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on July 19, 2022, 12:38:40 PM
And Katrina Bryan (Stella) will star in Cinderella from 3 Dec. This is only two weeks after the last performance of LH at Chichester...
https://www.floralpavilion.com/en-GB/shows/cinderella/events/4
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 19, 2022, 12:59:45 PM
So Julian and Katrina won't be available... Looks like all the cast is going to be new then.

Thanks!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on July 19, 2022, 02:21:36 PM
It looks unlikely that we'll see the stellar cast from Edinburgh again.
But they had a good hand in choosing the actors and singers, so I hope they are lucky again this time, too.
Hopefully we will know more soon.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Pottel on July 19, 2022, 03:46:48 PM
I'd quite like to go to Chichester, especially if there was the prospect of an RAH style meet-up with all you guys at one of the fan nights, but I'm going to Amsterdam to see Jason Isbell in November so the prospect of two trips in one month.

Chichester should be easy to get to from Gatwick Airport.

Just as easy perhaps for you to fly with Logan Air into Southampton then train to Chichester?

Was just thinking there might be more flights in and out of Gatwick. I'm more familiar with Gatwick as I have family in Crawley. :)
aaah crawley, have (fond) memories of the place.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on July 19, 2022, 05:36:21 PM
Ha, really, how did you end up in Crawley?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Pottel on July 19, 2022, 09:49:31 PM
Ha, really, how did you end up in Crawley?
my ex girlfriend from the time i lived in London (South Molton street) had a house in crawley too, was there a few times. to be honest, nothing too memorable, lol.

Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 19, 2022, 09:59:52 PM
Ha, really, how did you end up in Crawley?
my ex girlfriend from the time i lived in London (South Molton street) had a house in crawley too, was there a few times. to be honest, nothing too memorable, lol.

You lived in London?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Pottel on July 20, 2022, 08:51:11 AM
Ha, really, how did you end up in Crawley?
my ex girlfriend from the time i lived in London (South Molton street) had a house in crawley too, was there a few times. to be honest, nothing too memorable, lol.

You lived in London?
2001...and yes, i missed the chance to go to the RAH shows. (went to the, very good) brussels one. internet was not really hot back then
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 20, 2022, 10:34:18 AM
Ha, really, how did you end up in Crawley?
my ex girlfriend from the time i lived in London (South Molton street) had a house in crawley too, was there a few times. to be honest, nothing too memorable, lol.

You lived in London?
2001...and yes, i missed the chance to go to the RAH shows. (went to the, very good) brussels one. internet was not really hot back then

Between 2005 and 2008 I have a period in which I would had loved to live in London, but I found a work where I lived and the dream just vanished, maybe it is better to be just a visitor than an inhabitant, lol. You lived in a very nice place, by the way!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 20, 2022, 10:42:26 AM
The thing that annoys me, in a way, about this Chichester run with another completely different cast is about the release of the songs in a CD or and LP...

Being the first run in what looks like very very distant 2019 in Edinburgh, it was so beautiful that deserved the wait until June 2020 for the release coinciding with the London run, but with the pandemic, the cancelation, the doubts about if it would be back or not, the news that it would be, but not in London, but in Chichester ruined the chance of having a CD with the songs right now...

But not only that, but also looks like it depends on the success of this Chichester run to have a future run in London, maybe 2023 or 2024, to have that songs released on a cd. If that happens, it would be damm great to wait all these years for it, but, if it doesn't happen, probably there won't be any release, and I think it totally deserve to be released!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on July 21, 2022, 11:31:42 AM
I just read this on Chichester Festival site, that might be the reason why Local Hero is there this autumm:

https://www.cft.org.uk/about-us/our-story

Over the past six decades, myriad productions originated at Chichester have transferred to the West End or toured nationally and internationally, from musicals to significant new plays and classic revivals. In 2022, when CFT celebrates its 60th anniversary, Daniel Evans's Festival 2021 production of South Pacific will open at Manchester Opera House followed by a run at Sadler's Wells, and then a UK and Ireland tour. Jonathan Church's production of Singin' in the Rain will also be on UK tour and in Toronto.

Recent London transfers from Chichester include Tony Kushner & Jeanine Tesori’s Caroline, Or Change at Hampstead and the Playhouse Theatre (with Sharon D. Clarke also recreating her Olivier Award-winning performance as Caroline at New York’s Roundabout Theatre); Singin’ in the Rain at Sadler’s Wells; Ian McKellen in King Lear (also broadcast to cinemas internationally by NT Live) and James Graham’s new play Quiz, both at the Noël Coward Theatre; and Laura Wade’s new play The Watsons, adapted from the unfinished novel by Jane Austen, at the Menier Chocolate Factory (a further West End run was derailed by the pandemic).

Other Chichester productions seen in the West End in recent years include Half A Sixpence (Noël Coward Theatre), Young Chekhov (National Theatre), Running Wild (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Guys and Dolls (Savoy Theatre), Taken at Midnight (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Gypsy (Savoy Theatre), Stevie (Hampstead Theatre), Private Lives (Gielgud Theatre) and Sweeney Todd (Adelphi Theatre).



Looks like a place to get revamped into London's circuit!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on July 24, 2022, 06:55:50 PM
Incidentally, Chichester is a fabulous old city with a great cathedral, plenty of pubs  and restaurants, and good shopping. It will be worth a few hours of anyone’s time. Although the theatre is on the edge of the main town, it’s all flat and very walkable.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on August 09, 2022, 02:53:17 PM
One of us could apply for a job with a high probability to work with Mark and Guy:

NO. 1 SOUND OPERATOR
Closes: Thursday 18 August, 12noon (the listing may close early if sufficient applications have been received so we suggest registering your interest as soon as possible)

Salary: £850 per week

Start Date: 19 September, fixed term until 20 November

We are looking for a No.1 Sound Operator for our production of Local Hero.

A senior member of the Sound Department working in the Minerva Theatre, you will provide first class support to visiting creative teams, working collaboratively with the full time Head of Sound and Deputy to provide sound operation for the production.

Please send a CV and covering letter to recruitment@cft.org.uk.

Please download the Job Description below for full details of the role.

Please also fill in our Equal Opportunities survey here.

No. 1 Sound Operator Job Description
STATS:PDF | 123.5 KB
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 09, 2022, 05:39:30 PM
If I hadn't a job already, I would not mind to learn a new job, even for less salary! Or not salary at all, just bed and food!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on August 11, 2022, 03:18:48 PM
We went to see the Gershwin musical ‘Crazy For You’ at Chichester’s larger Festival Theatre last week. (Local Hero is on at the smaller Minerva.) The programme has a full page ad for Local Hero with the now iconic red phone box and Northern Lights. The blurb refers to ‘the legendary Mark Knopfler (formerly of Dire Straits).’ Nice.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 11, 2022, 04:23:24 PM
Oh, I'd love to have one of those, lol

Could you do a good scan of it and send it here?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 12, 2022, 10:04:40 AM
The cast is still not revelead, but looks like this actor is one of them:

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/20613132.bold-theatre-show-sees-actor-paul-higgins-embrace-scotlands-post-punk-music-scene/ (https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/20613132.bold-theatre-show-sees-actor-paul-higgins-embrace-scotlands-post-punk-music-scene/)

There is a line that says:

On the day we spoke, they were heading to Pennan, as much for research as relaxation; Paul’s next role is in the musical adaptation of Local Hero.

So he is obviously one of the actors!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 12, 2022, 11:09:00 AM
Just saw this picture of the Minerva Theatre and made me thought, not only how intimate is going to be, but also that seems that there is not a space for a band playing live, as happened in Edinburgh. How special would it be if the actors sing over a recorded music, and that could be the one MK recorded with their band at British Grove?

 :lol

That would be extra special, to be able to listen MK and his band playing the music!

They also could use music recorded by a band on rehearsals but, please, don't bother to do that extra job, use the MK recordings, lol!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on August 12, 2022, 11:45:54 AM
Quite often (and didn't this happen in Edinburgh?) the band are actually playing in a different room, sometimes under the stage.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on August 12, 2022, 11:46:54 AM
Just saw this picture of the Minerva Theatre and made me thought, not only how intimate is going to be, but also that seems that there is not a space for a band playing live, as happened in Edinburgh. How special would it be if the actors sing over a recorded music, and that could be the one MK recorded with their band at British Grove?

 :lol

That would be extra special, to be able to listen MK and his band playing the music!

They also could use music recorded by a band on rehearsals but, please, don't bother to do that extra job, use the MK recordings, lol!

Beautiful thought, but the band at the Royal Lyceum was backstage for most of the show, so I expect that in Chichester, too.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on August 12, 2022, 12:00:03 PM
The cast is still not revelead, but looks like this actor is one of them:

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/20613132.bold-theatre-show-sees-actor-paul-higgins-embrace-scotlands-post-punk-music-scene/ (https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/20613132.bold-theatre-show-sees-actor-paul-higgins-embrace-scotlands-post-punk-music-scene/)

There is a line that says:

On the day we spoke, they were heading to Pennan, as much for research as relaxation; Paul’s next role is in the musical adaptation of Local Hero.

So he is obviously one of the actors!

Thanks, excellent research!  :thumbsup
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 12, 2022, 12:16:18 PM
Just saw this picture of the Minerva Theatre and made me thought, not only how intimate is going to be, but also that seems that there is not a space for a band playing live, as happened in Edinburgh. How special would it be if the actors sing over a recorded music, and that could be the one MK recorded with their band at British Grove?

 :lol

That would be extra special, to be able to listen MK and his band playing the music!

They also could use music recorded by a band on rehearsals but, please, don't bother to do that extra job, use the MK recordings, lol!

Beautiful thought, but the band at the Royal Lyceum was backstage for most of the show, so I expect that in Chichester, too.

The theater looks small, but yes, there is a chance that the band is on another room, as Dusty says.

I still hope they could use the recordings, LOL
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on August 14, 2022, 10:48:01 PM
Requested scan from Crazy For You programme at Chichester.
(http://Scan.jpg)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on August 15, 2022, 09:46:25 AM
Nice design.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 15, 2022, 04:25:21 PM
Very nice, thank you very much!

It calls my attention that is says book by David Greig, when in Edinburgh it said by David Greig and Bill Forsyth.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 20, 2022, 04:31:06 PM
Guy on his forum:

Back in with Mark next week though. Local Hero musical starting rehearsals
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on August 20, 2022, 04:55:10 PM
Finally some news.
Thanks jbaent:)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dmg on August 21, 2022, 01:17:48 PM
Guy on his forum:

Back in with Mark next week though. Local Hero musical starting rehearsals

Is that the new album or musical related I wonder... :think
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 22, 2022, 08:37:07 AM
Guy on his forum:

Back in with Mark next week though. Local Hero musical starting rehearsals

Is that the new album or musical related I wonder... :think

You might be right and might be both things. I understood it as they were back next week, as the musical starts rehearsals, but can be both.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on August 23, 2022, 08:14:48 PM
Finally, today the cast was announced:
https://www.cft.org.uk/news/casting-announced-for-local-hero

The full cast has been announced for LOCAL HERO, running at the Minerva Theatre from 8 October – 19 November. Based on the Bill Forsyth film, with book by David Greig and music and lyrics by Mark Knopfler (formerly of Dire Straits), it will be directed by Chichester Artistic Director Daniel Evans.

The Tony Award-winning American actor Gabriel Ebert will make his UK stage debut as Mac, with Lillie Flynn (as Stella), Paul Higgins (as Gordon), Hilton McRae (as Ben), Jay Villiers (as Happer), and Rachael Kendall Brown, Rodney Earl Clarke, Ali Craig, Julie Cullen, Liz Ewing, Murray Fraser, Craig Hunter, Joshua Manning, Jackie Morrison and Betty Valencia.

Daniel Evans said: ‘I came to Local Hero innocently; the film having passed me by in my childhood. However, the minute I read David Greig’s warm, witty book and heard Mark Knopfler’s seductive folk score, I fell hook, line and sinker. I then watched Bill Forsyth’s extraordinary film and appreciated its resonance immediately. It’s a story for our time where communities and corporations collide. It asks us to readdress how we look at the world by interrogating what we value.’

Gabriel Ebert’s many Broadway and off-Broadway roles include Mr Wormwood in Matilda The Musical, for which he won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical; The Misanthrope, Pass Over (Lucille Lortel Award), 4000 Miles (Obie Award), Thérèse Raquin and the title role in Peer Gynt. His screen work includes Dickinson, News of the World, Mr Mercedes and The Mandalorian.

Lillie Flynn previously appeared at Chichester in Love Story; her many other musical credits include Sunny Afternoon and Wicked in the West End.

Paul Higgins’s extensive TV work includes The Ipcress Files, Line of Duty, The Thick of It and Utopia; his stage credits include the National Theatre of Scotland’s Caledonia and Black Watch, and Children of the Sun and The White Guard at the National Theatre.

Hilton McRae returns to Chichester where he last appeared in My One and Only which transferred to London; his innumerable West End theatre credits also include End of the Rainbow (for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award), 1984, Mamma Mia!, Miss Saigon, and Timon of Athens at the National Theatre.

Jay Villiers’s previous Chichester credits include Quiz (also in the West End), Arcadia, The Admirable Crichton and Mansfield Park; his screen work includes Outlander and Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on August 23, 2022, 08:27:18 PM
A completely new cast

https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/event/local-hero#cast-and-creatives
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 24, 2022, 08:41:56 AM
Interesting...

Daniel Evans doesn't say a thing about watching the Edinburgh performances so, if he didn't, only read the David Greig book, and the actors are all new, I guess this could be a kind of new and fresch approach to the musical.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on August 24, 2022, 08:45:40 AM
Interesting...

Daniel Evans doesn't say a thing about watching the Edinburgh performances so, if he didn't, only read the David Greig book, and the actors are all new, I guess this could be a kind of new and fresch approach to the musical.

Interesting thought!
The same goes with the completely new cast. The new faces and voices will certainly bring a fresh approach, too.

But for Guy and Mark this means a lot more work. With the Edinburgh cast they wouldn't have half of the work they now have ahead of them.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 24, 2022, 09:11:10 AM
Interesting...

Daniel Evans doesn't say a thing about watching the Edinburgh performances so, if he didn't, only read the David Greig book, and the actors are all new, I guess this could be a kind of new and fresch approach to the musical.

Interesting thought!
The same goes with the completely new cast. The new faces and voices will certainly bring a fresh approach, too.

But for Guy and Mark this means a lot more work. With the Edinburgh cast they wouldn't have half of the work they now have ahead of them.

Yes, I expected that the cast for London would had be the same than in Edinburgh, as Damien Humbley went to British Grove to record his voice on some songs, and Katrina Bryan said that 2020 would had been the year she went to London to perform at the Old Vic. I thought that maybe the main roles would be the same, and the rest of cast could be another actors, that makes it easier, but this is totally new and fresh cast.

Maybe Daniel Evans really watched, and forgot to mention, some of the Edinburgh representations, or at least one recorded one (there are piece of videos that appeared on news before the Edinburgh run started) for a similar approach, maybe sharing it with the cast so they have an idea, but if not, a fresh approach, a total fresc approach would be something valuable for this representations.

And I hope it is for good!

There is no mention to a band, I would ask Guy, but yes, a totally fresh approach would need intervention musically from both MK and Guy, probably mostly from Guy that is included as musical director.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on August 24, 2022, 09:34:54 AM
Impressive to get a Tony winner as your lead, surely suggests it's heading for London?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 24, 2022, 09:41:28 AM
Impressive to get a Tony winner as your lead, surely suggests it's heading for London?

The idea behind this Chichester run is revamp the musical to London, so I guess so!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 24, 2022, 11:58:03 AM
Guy confirms there is going to be a live band:


Of course there will be a live band, all new players. It will be a 7 piece, as in Edinburgh.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on August 24, 2022, 03:09:58 PM
Guy: Some wonderful new updates too

Maybe a new song?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on August 31, 2022, 08:35:37 AM
First day of rehearsals yesterday. Set and costume presentation, movement session, music call and character work.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 31, 2022, 08:45:20 AM
I'm starting to feel nervous  :D :D :D :D
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on August 31, 2022, 09:08:37 AM
I'm starting to feel nervous  :D :D :D :D

Yes, this is what we have got left of an MK related live event.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on August 31, 2022, 09:31:11 AM
I'm starting to feel nervous  :D :D :D :D

Yes, this is what we have got left of an MK related live event.

If at least he would be in any of them playing with the band, lol
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on September 05, 2022, 04:49:09 PM
Here we have a video, with MK on it!

https://twitter.com/ChichesterFT/status/1566762680496570375?t=gRD45klAiKqveDPURiD8Cg&s=19
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on September 05, 2022, 06:42:36 PM
Thanks jbaent :)

Good to see MK :)

It's a pity we can't hear what they're talking about.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Elin N on September 05, 2022, 06:53:43 PM
It is good that things are in the open now, without all the secrecy we had to live with before the Edinburgh run. I get that changes can be made and things don't always go according to plan, but that secrecy thing... Really!  :thumbsdown Chichester Festival Theathre seems to post more on social media, I am grateful for the video  :D :thumbsup
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on September 06, 2022, 08:42:01 AM
Here we have a video, with MK on it!

https://twitter.com/ChichesterFT/status/1566762680496570375?t=gRD45klAiKqveDPURiD8Cg&s=19

Thanks, great find and great to see MK in a video again after a looooong time.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on September 06, 2022, 09:08:18 AM
It is good that things are in the open now, without all the secrecy we had to live with before the Edinburgh run. I get that changes can be made and things don't always go according to plan, but that secrecy thing... Really!  :thumbsdown Chichester Festival Theathre seems to post more on social media, I am grateful for the video  :D :thumbsup

There were a lot of videos and pictures prior to the Edinburgh run. Actually the whole cast visited Pennan and Banf, and published lot of pictures and videos interviewing the cast at both places, also there were a video or two with Knopfler working with David Greig and Bill Forsyth at the studio when writing the musical, also with interviews...

They are still available here

https://lyceum.org.uk/whats-on/production/local-hero
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on September 06, 2022, 09:11:49 AM
Thanks jbaent :)

Good to see MK :)

It's a pity we can't hear what they're talking about.

It looks like the video was made on day one, with anyone introducing each other.

The music in the video is an instrumental piece that can be heard in the musical when Mac arrives to Scotland. According to Guy is part of the song "a barrel of crude" which is the first song of the musical. It's strange as they sound like different songs, actually this instrumental piece is the third or fourth you can listen during the play...
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on September 22, 2022, 08:43:27 PM
MK Twitter:

Rehearsals are well underway for the
@ChichesterFT
 (UK) production of Local Hero, running from 8th October - 19th November. David Grieg’s book, based on Bill Forsyth’s iconic 1983 film, features new music and lyrics by Mark.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on September 23, 2022, 12:09:45 PM
He looks happy with what he's seeing...
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on September 23, 2022, 12:29:50 PM
Exactly!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on September 30, 2022, 01:24:26 PM
It's one week to go, on October 8th, and the sales are going quite well.

It's all sold out from the 8th to the 17th of october, which is the press night, all the remaining dates of October, except the very last one, it says "LAST FEW TICKETS REMAINING", also many of the November dates says the same, about 16 perfomances of November don't have that warning yet.

I know that it's a small theatre of around 300 capacity, but if the idea was using these perfomances to get a transfer to London next year, i'd say that at least on sales, it is almost a success, now let's wait for the night press and read what they say about it!

No wonder why MK looks that happy attending the rehearsals

(https://d2864n0kuhyrtt.cloudfront.net/files/Festival-2022/Local-Hero/Local-Hero-Rehearsals/_180x180_crop_center-center/Mark-Knopfler-in-rehearsal-for-Local-Hero-at-Chichester-Festival-Theatre-Photo-Johan-Persson_01909.jpg?mtime=20220921173341)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on September 30, 2022, 01:43:33 PM
Good news. Thanks jbaent :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 08, 2022, 03:00:38 PM
Anyone attending the first representation tonight?

Hope someone from here is going and can tell us something!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 08, 2022, 09:36:03 PM
Look who's attending the first night...
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on October 08, 2022, 09:43:49 PM
There is Mark. A bit lonely.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 09, 2022, 09:24:02 AM
There is Mark. A bit lonely.

It was way before the show started, as it was sold out.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 09, 2022, 10:15:16 AM
Some pictures from Jonathan Clore on Facebook "MK fans worldwide", the one with MK was also from him.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 09, 2022, 11:23:12 AM
Thanks for the pictures.
Have you already been able to check if there are any chances in the track list?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 09, 2022, 11:24:13 AM
Looking quickly, there are some "reprise" in curious places, and at least there are two songs missing from Edinburgh, which are "get a move on" and the one closing the play, "aiming from the stars".

Also Viktor song, ”lonesome star gets lonesome" song is not in the list.

"Game over" which was very nice is not there either.

The stage is also quite different.

I'm so much looking forward to next Saturday!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 09, 2022, 11:29:44 AM
Looking quickly, there are some "reprise" in curious places, and at least there are two songs missing from Edinburgh, which are "get a move on" and the one closing the play, "aiming from the stars".

The stage is also quite different.

I'm so much looking forward to next Saturday!

Thanks for checking!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 09, 2022, 11:35:43 AM
Looking quickly, there are some "reprise" in curious places, and at least there are two songs missing from Edinburgh, which are "get a move on" and the one closing the play, "aiming from the stars".

The stage is also quite different.

I'm so much looking forward to next Saturday!

Thanks for checking!

Lone Star gets lonesome and game over are also missing
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 09, 2022, 12:35:00 PM
Some great reviews on twitter, searching for #localhero
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on October 09, 2022, 01:26:35 PM
Thanks for the new messages and for the set list :thumbsup
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 09, 2022, 02:23:08 PM
Four "new" MK songs thrown out is quite a bit disappointing...
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 09, 2022, 03:44:35 PM
Four "new" MK songs thrown out is quite a bit disappointing...

Yes, in a way. As Guy says, a musical is always evolving. Maybe they thought that songs didn't work, or maybe those songs are merged with the new reprises, i remember that the Edinburgh shows had a reprise of "filthy dirty rich" inside of "Big Mac", now that reprise is after "cheerio a way ye go", I'm quite curious about all these new arrangements.

I remember reading about "the last ship" by Sting representations a s how it changed from one to the next, and I understood what Guy meant when he says a musical is always evolving.

I also remember that some song titles appeared on iswc-net, like " a wee pint" or "you can't eat scenery" that didn't made on the musical, and also "I hope you haven't changed on me", played during the first previews that gone after the press night...

At least there is one audio recording of Edinburgh with those songs that are missing. If the musical gets released on cd anyday, it would be after London shows, if that happens, and who knows how much songs would be there!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: TheTimeWasWrong on October 09, 2022, 04:51:53 PM
Found on Twitter:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeoQ6B1XwAATYHt?format=jpg&name=large)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FeoQ6B0X0AMd5rT?format=jpg&name=large)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FenL6hdX0AE06I0?format=jpg&name=large)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FenL6K9XEAIxX9g?format=jpg&name=large)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 11, 2022, 08:16:13 AM
Yesterday evening I compiled the track lists on both programmes from Edinburgh and Chichester.

Looks like some songs with its own title were substituted by reprises, I guess those contain in a way what happened in the songs that are not in the new version, in a way...

Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dmg on October 11, 2022, 12:13:56 PM
That's an interesting table.  It'll be good to get a true comparison between the two versions from someone who is familiar with both.  It's been so long since the Edinburgh run I'm not sure I could remember myself mind!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on October 11, 2022, 12:55:15 PM
Has anyone found any media reviews of Chichester?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Rolleyway Man on October 12, 2022, 02:53:39 AM
Has anyone found any media reviews of Chichester?

I’m not sure we’ll see those until after the press night.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 12, 2022, 09:40:46 AM
Also it seems we won't see any pictures of the actors on their roles on stage after the press night either.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on October 12, 2022, 06:34:35 PM
Yesterday evening I compiled the track lists on both programmes from Edinburgh and Chichester.

Looks like some songs with its own title were substituted by reprises, I guess those contain in a way what happened in the songs that are not in the new version, in a way...

I've been waiting for this. Thank you  :thumbsup
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 13, 2022, 08:49:22 AM
It is possible to buy a digital programme of Local Hero by two pounds

https://issuu.com/store/publishers/chichesterfestivaltheatre/issues/cft22-localhero_issuu

I don't know if it's downloadable or just to watch it through issuu.com...
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on October 15, 2022, 12:52:38 AM
Just back from Chichester. A real pleasure to see the show in such an intimate environment (I saw it twice in Edinburgh). Not sure the changes make all that much difference, though it’s a while since I listened to the earlier version. Full house, mainly standing ovation at the end, great fun. If you’re dithering about whether to go and can get tickets, do it!

I’m not actually sure the cast is an improvement on Edinburgh, but the show feels a little tighter, though I don’t think running time has changed much. The band were really good, with a guitarist who has a way with Knopfleresque twiddles.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 17, 2022, 07:56:22 AM
Thank you so much for your report!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 17, 2022, 12:48:11 PM
Back from a weekend in London and Chichester, time for a report.

First of all, THIS IS LIKE A NEW MUSICAL!

I mean, most of the songs are rewritten, most of them musically, some of them in their integrity. For example, the first one, "A Barrel of Oil" is totally different to "A Barrel of Crude", new music, with more Knopfler typical guitar bits on it than the previous version, new lyrics, I was totally blown away for this, as I was expecting to hear the same songs sung by other actors, I wasn't ready to witness new songs at all!!!!

I totally recommend to all of you that didn't want to go in order of not ruining your memories from Edinburgh, to try to get tickets for this one, is like attending a new thing, based on something you knew before, like when you attended the Edinburgh one knowing the film.

The trio of main actors are excepcional, specially the one who plays Mac, Gabriel Ebbert,  his role is in my opinion superior to Damian Humbley, as he was more cold, like with no feelings, and Gabriel plays a more human Mac, you really can empathise with him and he plays very well the transition from the bussinessman to the man who falls in love with Ferness, and Stella, this time that's more clear and evident, you can see it in his eyes!

The one who plays Gordon is also exceptional, pretty similar to the one from Edinburgh, no wonder why he's an actor present in so many British films and tv series. He is very good.

Stella, I wasn't sure the actress who play her would be as good as the one in Edinburgh, but she's excepctional too, I also would dare to say I like her even more!

The rest of the actors, you can say easily that this is a lower budget production. They are good, they fit well in their roles, but not as good than Edinburgh cast, specially Ben and Happer, but it doesn't affect the play at all as the main trio keep the level very high.

I was seated just behind, literally in the seat behind the director Daniel Evans and I can say he was very very happy with it, also Guy was at the theater, some rows before me a little bit at the left.

The big difference between Chichester and Edinburgh is on the second half, as there are some songs missing, the actors have more dialogue and in some moments you forget you are attending a musical, but as I said, the main trio keep a very high level, is something that is not so important at all.

Again, I totally recommend you if you can to try and get tickets for this, is totally worth to see all the updates, specially in musical terms, is more Knopfler guitar style than the Edinburgh one, lot of more!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on October 17, 2022, 01:09:27 PM
"new music, with more Knopfler typical guitar bits on it than the previous version, new lyrics"

It sounds intriguing!

Thank you jbaent :)

ps. I dream of an album with this music performed by MK
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 17, 2022, 01:19:13 PM


ps. I dream of an album with this music performed by MK

Me too, but I wonder which music, the one they recorded for Edinburgh, the one they wrote for Chichester or, who knows if he rewrites it again if the musical manages to get to London!

Because Guy said that any released cd/LP of the musical will happen if it gets to London.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on October 17, 2022, 01:29:19 PM
Hope to see a musical in London :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on October 17, 2022, 03:15:15 PM
For my taste, Jbaent slightly exaggerates the differences. I don’t think it’s like a ‘whole new musical’. Most of the numbers are much the same, although he is quite right that the opener, with a subtly changed name, is a radically new song, much rockier. The ones I come away humming are still ‘Filthy dirty rich’, maybe ‘Rocks and Water’, and of course the big tune we know so well, used so sparingly until the very end. He’s right that there are one or two patches in the second half where the speech goes on a bit too long without a song. But where he and I completely agree is that it’s well worth seeing! When do we get some reviews?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 17, 2022, 03:39:48 PM
But the songs that are the same in term of lyrics are different in terms of music... I have a cd with the Edinburgh recording and listen to it from time to time when driving to work and I know it as good as any other DS or MK record!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: KnopfleRick on October 17, 2022, 07:54:58 PM

ps. I dream of an album with this music performed by MK

Me too! From the first talk about this musical to this day, I've been dreaming of a CD by Mark with all the songs.

Thanks for your review, jbaent. Glad you had a good time.


Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dmg on October 17, 2022, 08:52:40 PM
Thanks for your review JBaent.  You must be enthusiastic about the musical because you wrote in capital letters!  Perhaps the more intimate setting has a lot to do with it too.  If only the guitar parts were played by Mark...
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 18, 2022, 06:43:15 AM
Thanks for your review JBaent.  You must be enthusiastic about the musical because you wrote in capital letters!  Perhaps the more intimate setting has a lot to do with it too.  If only the guitar parts were played by Mark...

Yes, I went expecting to see the same songs sung by different actors and I found new music and even new songs so, yes, I left very enthusiastic.

The theatre was small and the actors were literally in front of you, and I was on last row!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 18, 2022, 08:07:10 AM
A review from sussexexpress:
https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/news/people/chichester-local-hero-offers-hauntingly-beautiful-tale-of-what-really-matters-in-life-3883458

Chichester: Local Hero offers hauntingly beautiful tale of what really matters in life
Local Hero, book by David Greig, music & lyrics by Mark Knopfler, based on the Bill Forsyth film, Minerva Theatre, Chichester, until November 19.
By Phil Hewitt

CFT artistic director Daniel Evans opened what has turned out to be his final Chichester season with his finest, most important Chichester production of all, Our Generation. But now, as if to underline what we are losing with his departure next spring, he brings his era to an end with a production which is at least its equal. It’s hugely different of course, less urgent and maybe less of the moment, but Local Hero comes with a warmth of heart and an awareness of just what exactly matters in life – qualities which make it utterly irresistible. You know from its opening moments you are going to love it.
The Local Hero title stirs memories of a film nearly 40 years ago which featured instrumental music from Mark Knopfler in his Dire Straits pomp. Now with songs by Knopfler, Local Hero returns as a fully-fledged musical, a story which, all these years later, now finds its true measure on the stage in a production with marries superb set and lighting with first class performances all round.
How on earth do you convey a beautiful Scottish bay which is threatened with annihilation under a massive US oil refinery? The answer, it seems, is that you go for simplicity, you light it beautifully and you let the actors do the rest. Designer Frankie Bradshaw and Paule Constable with Ryan Day (lighting design) have conjured the perfect platform for us to let our imaginations soar – helped by a terrific cast that vividly creates a sense of community and, just as importantly, all the individuals within it.
And it is into this community that hotshot Texan oil executive Mac MacIntyre wanders with a whopping great cheque book. Gabriel Ebert makes his UK stage debut as Mac, and it is a lovely performance. He’s absolutely not a bad guy, but he just hasn’t got a clue about the kind of wealth that can’t be measured in dollars. The play puts him right about that – and Ebert teases out the transformation beautifully.
Accelerating that change is Lillie Flynn, equally impressive as Stella, a woman who perhaps appreciates the Scottish idyll more for the fact that she is the outsider who has chosen to live there. Or maybe the place has chosen her.
MacIntyre inspires the locals to sing just how Filthy Dirty Rich they are going to get; Stella immediately counters with the hauntingly beautiful Rocks and Water. Also in the mix is the pragmatist Gordon (Paul Higgins), a realist aware just how economically unviable the community has become – again a fine performance. But maybe the performance of the night comes from Hilton McRae as Ben, the very picture of contentment, a man who’s got absolutely everything he could ever want as he sits on the beach in his armchair. What A Life is the perfect song for him in a musical where the music emerges appositely and effortlessly.
Our Generation seemed pretty unmatchable – until tonight. This is a splendid final production from Daniel Evans, a piece that will make you think but, far more importantly, make you smile. Beautifully, beautifully done from one and all.

Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on October 18, 2022, 08:10:51 AM
So pleased to hear that you enjoyed the show, jbaent.  I was thinking of you on Saturday and would have loved to have been there.  It would be lovely to hear MK playing guitar on the songs.

Many thanks for the review, skydiver!   :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 18, 2022, 08:46:41 AM
Jonathan Baz Review

https://www.jonathanbaz.com/2022/10/local-hero-review.html?m=1

Tuesday, 18 October 2022
Local Hero - Review
Minerva Theatre, Chichester

Music & Lyrics by Mark Knopfler
Book by David Greig
Based on the Bill Forsyth film

The twentieth century gave us few finer rock musicians than Mark Knopfler, whose talent both as a writer and guitarist place him as one of the UK's greats. In 1983 Knopfler wrote the score for Bill Forsyth’s BAFTA-winning film Local Hero and he has now now taken those themes penned some fourty years ago, weaving them into a musical based upon the movie.

Local Hero is a whimsical tale of humanity and the cosmos set amidst the Scottish Highlands. Offshore oil was big business for Scotland in the 70s and 80s and Forsyth’s story focussed on a Houston based oil corporation sending out a high-powered executive Mac to acquire the coastal village of Ferness together with its beach, for the purposes of constructing a refinery.  Mac arrives amongst the canny villagers who are quick to sense the fortune that may be coming their way, and in an era that long pre-dated the internet or even mobile phones, one of the story’s most cosily comforting images is the village's old red telephone box on the beach that proves Mac’s only way of privately communicating with his USA Head Office. Of course the plans do not proceed as anticipated – love, charm and a respect for nature and the stars combine to chart a course that leads to an unexpected, but decisively happy and inspiring ending.

Broadway's Tony-winner Gabriel Ebert makes  his UK debut in the role of Mac. His is a performance of charm and assured voice, completely believable as a Texan city-slicker who falls for the beauty of Ferness' remote idyll. Opposite Mac is Paul Higgins as Gordon, the village’s pub-landlord cum accountant cum lawyer, who is appointed to negotiate with the oilman and strike the best deal possible. The musical’s triangular love interest comes from Lillie Flynn’s Stella who forges an emotional connection with both men. Arguably stealing the show however is Hilton McRae’s beachcomber Ben, whose encyclopaedic knowledge of the stars in the Scottish skies serves to bring together the narrative’s various strands.

Daniel Evans directs a sensitive ensemble piece from his company that is only enhanced by Frankie Bradshaw’s set design that ingeniously transforms into a sandy, pebble-strewn beach. Ash J Woodward offers up video projections that strive to create the Aurora Borealis in deepest West Sussex – an effect that relies heavily upon the audience’s ability to imagine the Northern Lights. 

The production's star of course is unquestionably Mark Knopfler’s rich score. His original movie soundtrack offered up a raft of melodies, most of which have been fused into the stage show and it is a mark of the man’s talent that he has been able to create so many songs from these gaelic and celtic themes. The music is powerful, stirring and fresh, containing a heady mix of beautiful balladry and rousing numbers written for guitars and violin. That Richard John’s seven piece band contains no less than three guitarists speaks to Knopfler’s love affair with strings.

This is a show built around Knopfler’s love for Local Hero, itself one of the finest British movies. It makes for an evening of charming, gorgeous theatre.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 18, 2022, 08:51:25 AM
Great reviews in my opinion.

Funny they remark on the actor who played Ben, he was good, but I wasn't that impressed by him, but by Gabriel Ebbert who played a magnificent Mac. If the play goes to London, I would try to have it for sure!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Kris-b on October 18, 2022, 10:25:12 AM
I get really excited when I read all those comments- and still eleven days to wait!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 18, 2022, 02:15:17 PM
Review | Local Hero, Minerva Theatre, Chichester: 'You won’t be able to take your eyes off it'
THE sea laps at a sandy beach, the skies above tinged by a crimson sunset that sinks into the waves.
By James Butler

Out of the darkness bursts the aurora borealis, and cutting through the shimmering light is a comet streaking through the cosmos.
It is an image that Local Hero comes back to time and again, literally shining a light on our own mortality while also being at risk of erasure by humanity’s hubris.
Adapted from a Bafta award-winning film, the year is 1983 and oil has been discovered in the North Sea, off the coast of a little fishing village called Ferness in Scotland.
The news filters through to an oil company in Houston, Texas, and its ageing CEO Happer is determined to build a refinery there – so he sends his best man, Mac, to the sleepy village to strike a deal with its residents.
Happer also tasks him with a second mission: to find a comet in the vast, unspoiled skies of the Scottish Highlands that he can name after himself.
At first, the plot feels familiar. The city slicker has to adapt to the eccentric locals with humorous results and finds himself falling in love with the very place he has been tasked with bulldozing.
Tony Award-winner Gabriel Ebert, who makes his UK stage debut as Mac, brings goofiness and warmth to a character who could easily have been played as the stereotypical yuppie.
So when he saw that night sky rendered above him for the first time the child-like wonder in his face is plain to see.
From this point on, I was invested as his business trip turned into a self-existential quest, asking those bigger questions about what is home and even the purpose of life.
If the beginning seemed familiar, the conclusion bucked the typical Hollywood happy ending I was expecting – all for the better.
In fact, the climactic moment was one of the most simple yet effective lighting designs I have ever seen. Mac pours handfuls of sand out of his pockets and the way it shimmered and refracted like the Northern Lights themselves was just perfect.
Much like this natural wonder, this show takes some patience at first.
But once the spectacle has begun you won’t be able to take your eyes off it.

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/arts-and-culture/theatre-and-stage/review-local-hero-minerva-theatre-chichester-you-wont-be-able-to-take-your-eyes-off-it-3883662
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 18, 2022, 02:18:22 PM
Today there are also reviews in The Telegraph, The Times and The Stage, but only for subscribers:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/local-hero-chichester-festival-theatre-can-sacred-cult-classic/
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/local-hero-review-entertaining-not-quite-enchanting-kdlh3f7hr
https://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/local-hero-chichester-festival-theatre-bill-forsyth-david-greig-mark-knopfler-review
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 18, 2022, 02:23:14 PM
Local Hero review – musical misses the magic of Bill Forsyth’s classic
Minerva theatre, Chichester
In spite of a nifty set and new songs, this story of an oil-man trying to buy a Highlands village never quite comes alive

This adaptation of Bill Forsyth’s 1983 film, about a Texan oil-man who wants to buy up a Scottish village, keeps the features that made that original such a classic. There is an evocation of the glorious Highland sky that leads the company boss to drop his multi-million-pound plans and the score by Mark Knopfler gains a bevy of new songs.
But it does not bring the same magic as that film and feels dated in its environmental message, and rather inert in its drama, although Daniel Evans directs with characteristic imagination. There is also an especially nifty set by Frankie Bradshaw, which turns the stage into a giant metallic ocean wave.
Clever changes in the set design bring movement but the actors themselves seem too static and where the drifting pace worked so well on film, here it feels sleepy. There is more energy in the first half, as company boss Happer (Jay Villiers) orders corporate apparatchik Mac (Gabriel Ebert) to go to the Highlands where he meets Gordon (Paul Higgins), Stella (Lillie Flynn) and the rest of the locals.
Ebert and Higgins have able singing voices, and Gordon is spritely while Mac has a melancholic air, but neither come fully alive in their parts. Flynn’s voice is a highlight in the more complex part of Stella, but the characters overall feel too lightly coloured in, verging on featureless. It becomes hard to latch on to the emotional heart of the story and the humour in David Greig’s book is too gentle to take its place.
Knopfler’s songs are infectious or wistful, as the story requires it, although there are far more of the lilting strains of Celtic folk than the weirder, more wonderful, guitar sounds for which Knopfler is known.
The central romance in the original film (featuring Peter Capaldi and Jenny Seagrove) has been erased, which is a shame given some excellent chat-up lines by Seagrove’s character about the environment. Its climate message here, about the destruction of the land and its communities, sounds like a too-late warning given our current climate crisis and brings an oddly tinny note to the happy ending.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/oct/18/local-hero-review-minerva-theatre-chichester

Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on October 18, 2022, 04:00:31 PM
Telegraph:

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.telegraph.co.uk%2Ftheatre%2Fwhat-to-see%2Flocal-hero-chichester-festival-theatre-can-sacred-cult-classic%2F
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on October 18, 2022, 04:02:18 PM
The Times

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Farticle%2Flocal-hero-review-entertaining-not-quite-enchanting-kdlh3f7hr
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on October 18, 2022, 04:24:23 PM
Times review by Dominic Maxwell for non-subscribers:-



★★★☆☆
It is hard not to like this musical of Bill Forsyth’s enduring film about a Texas oilman who comes to buy up, but is soon seduced by, a tiny coastal village in Scotland. Its adaptor, David Greig, has streamlined the 1983 original a bit. Yet he has retained its lightly fabulist feel, its Ealing Comedy-like collision of the little people who care, the big people who can’t help but care despite their best attempts not to, and the little people who would welcome a bit less caring and a lot more cash, thank you very much. And Mark Knopfler, who wrote the film’s soundtrack in his Dire Straits heyday, adds 15 new songs of largely rootsy, fitfully jazzy charm.

Neatly done all round, then, in this production by Daniel Evans, his last as boss in Chichester before leaving for the RSC. Evans has a sure way with a musical, and from the moment the grey thrust stage is half-dismantled to reveal a sandy floor to summon up the village of Furness, this feels as if it might be something special. As it turns out . . . almost. The lack of absolute humdingers in the songs and the (largely deliberate) lack of friction in the storytelling leave you with something very pleasantly entertaining rather than outright enchanting.

Still, Evans and his designer Frankie Bradshaw stage it smartly. Our hero, Mac (an appealing Gabriel Ebert), flies to Scotland in an airline seat suspended from the ceiling. It’s a tremendous effect. The local hero/kingpin, Gordon (Paul Higgins), is slippery but sensitive; he’s delightful. His Glaswegian partner, Stella (Lillie Flynn, tremendous in a part expanded from the film), an outsider in love with her surroundings, is sharp but delightful. Beachcomber Ben (Hilton McRae) is stubborn but delightful.

It’s a cast of 15 but the sensibility is that of a chamber musical. Knopfler’s songs are intelligent and adept but don’t quite cast the intimate spell to make up for their lack of rousing moments. Not even some notably sophisticated songs added since the show was first staged, in a different production, in Edinburgh in 2019. (A planned London run in 2020 was scuppered by the pandemic.) Without those, with scenery we have to imagine for ourselves, it’s hard to be as seduced by the quiet life as Mac is. Whether or not you’ve seen the film, the story rarely strays far from what you expect.

Granted, the ending, which makes fine use of the film’s famous red phone box, is a bittersweet twist on expectations. Overall, though, since everyone is a sweetheart underneath, even Mac’s eccentrically demanding boss, this ends up a smidgin too sweet; a cranachan without the whisky. It has charm, no question, but not the industrial quantities of the stuff needed to take it from likeable to loveable.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 19, 2022, 09:16:54 AM
Local Hero: how do you put such a sacred film on stage?
As Chichester Festival Theatre's musical version opens, director Daniel Evans and others talk about the little film that struck oil

By
Jasper Rees
17 October 2022

During the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, certain obsessives will have spotted that the coffin pulled on a gun carriage by naval ratings from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey was accompanied by a nostalgic tune, solemnly blown by massed pipers, from the soundtrack of Local Hero.

In Bill Forsyth’s modest masterpiece from 1983, about a Texan oil man sent to buy up an entire Highland fishing village, the lilting strains of The Mist Covered Mountains turn up in the Ceilidh section at the heart of the story. It’s here that “Mac” Macintyre (played by Peter Riegert) from Knox Oil and Gas realises that he doesn’t want to go home to Houston. Who would, hearing that music, and in that landscape?

The song, also heard at the funerals of John F Kennedy and Joe Strummer, was composed in 1856 by John Cameron. Its Scottish Gaelic lyrics evoke a yearning love for home “that I’d trade not for tons of gold”. In Local Hero, the villagers of Ferness turn out to be less sentimental: with black gold under the sea, they are only too eager to become homeless millionaires.

“It’s their place, Mac,” reasons Victor, the worldly Russian trawlerman who sails in every year for the Ceilidh. “They have a right to make what they can of it. You can’t eat scenery!”

That indelible line, and The Mist Covered Mountains, and the famous red phone box were given a new lease of life three years ago. A new stage musical version by David Greig and Bill Forsyth, with a clutch of new songs by the soundtrack’s original composer Mark Knopfler, was a popular hit at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh.

The musical was destined for The Old Vic in 2020 only to be thwarted by Covid. With the original director John Crowley no longer available, the producer Caro Newling sent the script to Daniel Evans at Chichester Festival Theatre. He confesses he had never seen the film.

“I asked them whether I should watch it and we collectively decided that I shouldn’t, that I should come at it via the musical first and I’m really glad I did because they’re very, very different beasts.” Evans, recognising a straitened small-town community not unlike the Rhondda where he grew up, was hooked. Knowing his way round the art form as both actor and director, he suggested structural improvements to Greig and Knopfler, who duly wrote three new songs.

“It was mostly about making sure the songs were always furthering plot. One of the booby traps with pop or rock musicals is you often have to stop the drama and park for a while.”

When the musical was first announced, purists like me would have all had the same nagging doubt: do Mac and Gordon, the village’s wily negotiator, really need to sing? Could there be a show tune for Felix Happer, the oil mogul so indelibly played by Burt Lancaster? Greig, a recent convert to opera, makes the exuberant claim that “no work of art, in my heart, has reached its most realised form until it’s become a piece of theatre on a stage with music.”

He was pushing at an open door with Forsyth. Thanks to the Ceilidh section, Knopfler was involved far earlier than a composer normally would be. “In a real way music made the film, if not saved it,” Forsyth explained to me when Local Hero marked its 25th anniversary, “because I’m so reluctant to give things to an audience. Maybe I err on the side of reserve. Mark saw what the film wanted to do and his music helped it by another 50 per cent. I felt wow, thank goodness.”

Much of that heavy lifting was done by Going Home, Knopfler’s wistful leitmotif and theme tune. “It’s one of those pieces of music,” says Greig, “that just speaks to every human all around the world in a way that is almost inexplicable.” At the insistence of the producer David Puttnam, an electric version of it surges in over the final credits to mitigate the ending’s Strindbergian bleakness as Mac is cast out of paradise.

While Evans had never seen the film, Paul Higgins – inheriting the role of Gordon from Denis Lawson – has never performed in a musical. He submitted an audition tape while isolating during Covid. “A couple of the songs I played on my guitar. I said, ‘If Mark Knopfler ever hears this, I apologise.’ And he did.”

In the outward-looking, entrepreneurial Gordon, Forsyth broke with Scottish stereotype. Denis Lawson once told me that “it was quite hard to find a contemporary Scottish character who wasn’t in wellies and a kilt or a Gorbals heavy. It was the most enjoyable experience I’ve ever had.”

Higgins, who comes from a small post-industrial community in Lanarkshire, has avoided rewatching the film. “But I remember Denis Lawson annoyingly because he’s so clearly right for the part. I’m not trying to copy him.” It helps to establish some distance from Lawson’s performance that in the musical, unlike in the film, Gordon and his wife Stella are not at it like rabbits. “Maybe the reverse is true. They don’t agree about how to deal with this potential windfall.”

Indeed the entire character of Stella, sweet and almost silent on screen, has been beefed up to form part of a semi-romantic triangle. The idea springs from an exchange in the film when Mac drunkenly proposes to swap places with Gordon: in return for his apartment and his Porsche, Mac gets Gordon’s life, and his wife. Stella is now an incomer from Glasgow, a lone voice in this unspoiled wilderness who wants to protect the idyll of village life from big oil. Between them they play out the drama’s central dilemma: to get rich on the back of violating change, or stay poor but protect heritage and environment.

It’s one of the magic tricks of Local Hero that, as the decades have passed, its ecological narrative has hustled its way to the fore, elbowing past the Cold War theme personified by Victor from Soviet Murmansk and NATO fighters jetting up the coastline. In a line that would have sounded like the purest science fiction in 1983, a scientist in Aberdeen talks about unfreezing the Arctic Circle.

“Can you imagine a world without oil?” asks Mac in the film. "We know what happens to oil, they don’t,” says Greig. “What Bill spotted back in the 1980s was the arrival of oil was not necessarily seen as this giant desecration.”

It helps no one if the perfection of the original – celebrated in a charming new 40th anniversary book (Local Hero: Making a Scottish Classic by Jonathan Melville) – casts too long a shadow. The theatre can’t do sea and sky, beach and cliff, or close-ups and cutaways. That’s where songs like Only Rock and Water and I Wonder If I Can Go Home Again come in.

“For some people the film is sacrosanct,” Evans concedes. “I just hope they will allow themselves to enjoy the story in a different genre.” Devotees should be aware that, with Forsyth’s approval, beloved characters have been culled. “You need to choose who your central characters are and focus on them,” argues Greig. “Bill can afford to be generous because he has made a classic film. It’s not going to be damaged by us.”

Their collaboration did not run entirely smooth. Forsyth had already demonstrated a willingness to revisit old stories when in 1998, nearly two decades on, he went back to Cumbernauld to shoot Gregory’s Two Girls. But he was his own boss there. During rehearsals for Local Hero in Edinburgh he felt sidelined and publicly distanced himself. Greig is uncertain if he ever saw it so is delighted to learn that Forsyth has requested tickets for Chichester.

I’m reminded of the story’s question mark of an ending, inserted to placate nervous Hollywood backers. Mac has been expelled into his lonely Houston high rise, with a pocketful of sea shells as mementoes. The dream is over. Cut to the ringing phone box. The local hero can always return.

Local Hero is at Chichester Festival Theatre until November 19. Tickets: cft.org.uk
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 19, 2022, 10:42:26 AM
From Press Night
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 19, 2022, 10:46:09 AM
also from Monday night
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 19, 2022, 10:47:25 AM
one more
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 19, 2022, 10:50:19 AM
The writer, the composer and the director
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 19, 2022, 10:51:45 AM
how lovely
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 19, 2022, 12:48:17 PM
Some of the reports says MK wrote three new songs for this Chichester run of the Local Hero musical. One is definitely "A barrel of Oil", the other two I'm not sure as it is true some of the songs have new lyrics or partially new lyrics, and some songs have the same lyrics but different music, so I can't really say...

According to one of the reports it was the director, Daniel Evans, who asked MK to do that, so I guess that if the musical goes to London under a new director, it might happen again that Mk is asked to write more songs or rewrite the current ones, that would make it extra special!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on October 19, 2022, 01:17:23 PM
Many thanks for the lovely pictures!  :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on October 19, 2022, 01:22:33 PM
Thank you for the great reports and photos:)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on October 19, 2022, 01:24:39 PM
Local Hero: how do you put such a sacred film on stage?
As Chichester Festival Theatre's musical version opens, director Daniel Evans and others talk about the little film that struck oil

By
Jasper Rees
17 October 2022

During the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, certain obsessives will have spotted that the coffin pulled on a gun carriage by naval ratings from Westminster Hall to Westminster Abbey was accompanied by a nostalgic tune, solemnly blown by massed pipers, from the soundtrack of Local Hero.

In Bill Forsyth’s modest masterpiece from 1983, about a Texan oil man sent to buy up an entire Highland fishing village, the lilting strains of The Mist Covered Mountains turn up in the Ceilidh section at the heart of the story. It’s here that “Mac” Macintyre (played by Peter Riegert) from Knox Oil and Gas realises that he doesn’t want to go home to Houston. Who would, hearing that music, and in that landscape?

The song, also heard at the funerals of John F Kennedy and Joe Strummer, was composed in 1856 by John Cameron. Its Scottish Gaelic lyrics evoke a yearning love for home “that I’d trade not for tons of gold”. In Local Hero, the villagers of Ferness turn out to be less sentimental: with black gold under the sea, they are only too eager to become homeless millionaires.

“It’s their place, Mac,” reasons Victor, the worldly Russian trawlerman who sails in every year for the Ceilidh. “They have a right to make what they can of it. You can’t eat scenery!”

That indelible line, and The Mist Covered Mountains, and the famous red phone box were given a new lease of life three years ago. A new stage musical version by David Greig and Bill Forsyth, with a clutch of new songs by the soundtrack’s original composer Mark Knopfler, was a popular hit at the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh.

The musical was destined for The Old Vic in 2020 only to be thwarted by Covid. With the original director John Crowley no longer available, the producer Caro Newling sent the script to Daniel Evans at Chichester Festival Theatre. He confesses he had never seen the film.

“I asked them whether I should watch it and we collectively decided that I shouldn’t, that I should come at it via the musical first and I’m really glad I did because they’re very, very different beasts.” Evans, recognising a straitened small-town community not unlike the Rhondda where he grew up, was hooked. Knowing his way round the art form as both actor and director, he suggested structural improvements to Greig and Knopfler, who duly wrote three new songs.

“It was mostly about making sure the songs were always furthering plot. One of the booby traps with pop or rock musicals is you often have to stop the drama and park for a while.”

When the musical was first announced, purists like me would have all had the same nagging doubt: do Mac and Gordon, the village’s wily negotiator, really need to sing? Could there be a show tune for Felix Happer, the oil mogul so indelibly played by Burt Lancaster? Greig, a recent convert to opera, makes the exuberant claim that “no work of art, in my heart, has reached its most realised form until it’s become a piece of theatre on a stage with music.”

He was pushing at an open door with Forsyth. Thanks to the Ceilidh section, Knopfler was involved far earlier than a composer normally would be. “In a real way music made the film, if not saved it,” Forsyth explained to me when Local Hero marked its 25th anniversary, “because I’m so reluctant to give things to an audience. Maybe I err on the side of reserve. Mark saw what the film wanted to do and his music helped it by another 50 per cent. I felt wow, thank goodness.”

Much of that heavy lifting was done by Going Home, Knopfler’s wistful leitmotif and theme tune. “It’s one of those pieces of music,” says Greig, “that just speaks to every human all around the world in a way that is almost inexplicable.” At the insistence of the producer David Puttnam, an electric version of it surges in over the final credits to mitigate the ending’s Strindbergian bleakness as Mac is cast out of paradise.

While Evans had never seen the film, Paul Higgins – inheriting the role of Gordon from Denis Lawson – has never performed in a musical. He submitted an audition tape while isolating during Covid. “A couple of the songs I played on my guitar. I said, ‘If Mark Knopfler ever hears this, I apologise.’ And he did.”

In the outward-looking, entrepreneurial Gordon, Forsyth broke with Scottish stereotype. Denis Lawson once told me that “it was quite hard to find a contemporary Scottish character who wasn’t in wellies and a kilt or a Gorbals heavy. It was the most enjoyable experience I’ve ever had.”

Higgins, who comes from a small post-industrial community in Lanarkshire, has avoided rewatching the film. “But I remember Denis Lawson annoyingly because he’s so clearly right for the part. I’m not trying to copy him.” It helps to establish some distance from Lawson’s performance that in the musical, unlike in the film, Gordon and his wife Stella are not at it like rabbits. “Maybe the reverse is true. They don’t agree about how to deal with this potential windfall.”

Indeed the entire character of Stella, sweet and almost silent on screen, has been beefed up to form part of a semi-romantic triangle. The idea springs from an exchange in the film when Mac drunkenly proposes to swap places with Gordon: in return for his apartment and his Porsche, Mac gets Gordon’s life, and his wife. Stella is now an incomer from Glasgow, a lone voice in this unspoiled wilderness who wants to protect the idyll of village life from big oil. Between them they play out the drama’s central dilemma: to get rich on the back of violating change, or stay poor but protect heritage and environment.

It’s one of the magic tricks of Local Hero that, as the decades have passed, its ecological narrative has hustled its way to the fore, elbowing past the Cold War theme personified by Victor from Soviet Murmansk and NATO fighters jetting up the coastline. In a line that would have sounded like the purest science fiction in 1983, a scientist in Aberdeen talks about unfreezing the Arctic Circle.

“Can you imagine a world without oil?” asks Mac in the film. "We know what happens to oil, they don’t,” says Greig. “What Bill spotted back in the 1980s was the arrival of oil was not necessarily seen as this giant desecration.”

It helps no one if the perfection of the original – celebrated in a charming new 40th anniversary book (Local Hero: Making a Scottish Classic by Jonathan Melville) – casts too long a shadow. The theatre can’t do sea and sky, beach and cliff, or close-ups and cutaways. That’s where songs like Only Rock and Water and I Wonder If I Can Go Home Again come in.

“For some people the film is sacrosanct,” Evans concedes. “I just hope they will allow themselves to enjoy the story in a different genre.” Devotees should be aware that, with Forsyth’s approval, beloved characters have been culled. “You need to choose who your central characters are and focus on them,” argues Greig. “Bill can afford to be generous because he has made a classic film. It’s not going to be damaged by us.”

Their collaboration did not run entirely smooth. Forsyth had already demonstrated a willingness to revisit old stories when in 1998, nearly two decades on, he went back to Cumbernauld to shoot Gregory’s Two Girls. But he was his own boss there. During rehearsals for Local Hero in Edinburgh he felt sidelined and publicly distanced himself. Greig is uncertain if he ever saw it so is delighted to learn that Forsyth has requested tickets for Chichester.

I’m reminded of the story’s question mark of an ending, inserted to placate nervous Hollywood backers. Mac has been expelled into his lonely Houston high rise, with a pocketful of sea shells as mementoes. The dream is over. Cut to the ringing phone box. The local hero can always return.

Local Hero is at Chichester Festival Theatre until November 19. Tickets: cft.org.uk

Wow! Lots of valuable and important information. Thanks jbaent :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: KnopfleRick on October 19, 2022, 01:30:54 PM
Loved to see the great pictures. Thanks for sharing!  :thumbsup
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on October 19, 2022, 04:58:05 PM
I suspect the modest reviews in Times and Grauniad may kill the chances of a London production. Odd that the local reviewers have been so much more positive than the nationals.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 19, 2022, 05:28:41 PM
I suspect the modest reviews in Times and Grauniad may kill the chances of a London production. Odd that the local reviewers have been so much more positive than the nationals.

Usually that critics think they are so important than take his job as a sport, competition with others critics to see who's harder.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on October 19, 2022, 05:42:04 PM
I suspect the modest reviews in Times and Grauniad may kill the chances of a London production. Odd that the local reviewers have been so much more positive than the nationals.

Really? This is a possible scenario?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on October 20, 2022, 07:47:46 AM
Ticket sales would also be a factor, but the current theatre is so small that it’s not hard to fill - so difficult to judge from that.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 20, 2022, 08:25:43 AM
Most of the remaining shows are close to sold out, and most of the reviews are good, some enthusiastic, the bad ones could be easily from those kind of critics that enjoy destroying whatever they attend in order to show how powerful they are from their thrones, and that's something most of directors and theaters are well aware.

Also, Daniel Evans is leaving the Chichester Festival to join as co-artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, which not only represents Shakespeare's plays but also another type of things. Right now they are doing "My Neighbour Totoro" at the Barbican Theatre in London, and also Roald Dahl's "Matilda" at the Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden, London, so, I see here a great chance for Local Hero for its future in London.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Elin N on October 20, 2022, 10:33:48 AM
Thank you for the photos  :) I hope Mark is as happy as it seems, not just for the cameras. That scarf must be his favorite, I think he wore the same when I briefly met him in 2002! (wow that is 20 years)

I don't know how it works, but I hope the theatre -business people are writing contracts for London as I write this  :lol
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on October 20, 2022, 12:33:39 PM
Most of the remaining shows are close to sold out, and most of the reviews are good, some enthusiastic, the bad ones could be easily from those kind of critics that enjoy destroying whatever they attend in order to show how powerful they are from their thrones, and that's something most of directors and theaters are well aware.

Also, Daniel Evans is leaving the Chichester Festival to join as co-artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, which not only represents Shakespeare's plays but also another type of things. Right now they are doing "My Neighbour Totoro" at the Barbican Theatre in London, and also Roald Dahl's "Matilda" at the Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden, London, so, I see here a great chance for Local Hero for its future in London.

 :thumbsup And I like it.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dmg on October 20, 2022, 01:15:46 PM
I suspect the modest reviews in Times and Grauniad may kill the chances of a London production. Odd that the local reviewers have been so much more positive than the nationals.

The local reviewers will see it as their theatre and be excited by any production I guess.  The nationals are more likely to see it for what it is without any bias.

Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on October 20, 2022, 02:07:11 PM
I suspect the modest reviews in Times and Grauniad may kill the chances of a London production. Odd that the local reviewers have been so much more positive than the nationals.

The local reviewers will see it as their theatre and be excited by any production I guess.  The nationals are more likely to see it for what it is without any bias.

Correct, my local paper never gives anything a bad review.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 21, 2022, 08:40:49 AM
I suspect the modest reviews in Times and Grauniad may kill the chances of a London production. Odd that the local reviewers have been so much more positive than the nationals.

The local reviewers will see it as their theatre and be excited by any production I guess.  The nationals are more likely to see it for what it is without any bias.

Correct, my local paper never gives anything a bad review.

Telegraph did a very good review, is it national or local? Sounds like national to me, but I don't live at the UK, so I really don't know.

However, a Chichester production has a lower budget than a West End one so, bad critics from national papers really miss the most important point for me.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 21, 2022, 08:44:44 AM
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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 21, 2022, 09:16:50 AM
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 voice was not as good as in Edinburgh (Gabriel Ebert ist more an actor than a singer whereas Damian Humbley was more a singer than an actor).
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 my favourite ballad of the play "I Wonder if I Can Go Home Again" was altered and butchered.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 21, 2022, 09:30:59 AM
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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 21, 2022, 10:04:08 AM
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.

Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 21, 2022, 10:30:45 AM
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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on October 21, 2022, 10:36:43 AM
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!   ;D
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on October 21, 2022, 10:46:02 AM
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!   ;D

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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on October 21, 2022, 10:50:43 AM
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!   ;D

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!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 21, 2022, 10:55:09 AM
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!   ;D

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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on October 21, 2022, 10:59:10 AM
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!   ;D

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.  :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on October 21, 2022, 12:01:50 PM
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?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on October 21, 2022, 12:08:46 PM
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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dmg on October 21, 2022, 12:11:57 PM
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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on October 21, 2022, 07:09:52 PM
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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on October 21, 2022, 08:19:12 PM
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.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 03, 2022, 08:31:37 AM
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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paKhosYMIUI
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on November 03, 2022, 11:02:55 AM
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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paKhosYMIUI

Great find, thanks!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 04, 2022, 10:39:01 AM
Local Hery entry on wikipedia has been updated but looks that who did it didn't know how to di it properly, if any of you know how to do it like the it should be, upload pictures etc, this is the url:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Hero_(musical) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Hero_(musical))
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on November 07, 2022, 09:02:48 AM
According to my booklet from the Edinburgh show, "I Wonder If I Can Go Home Again" was sung by Mistress Fraser (Wendy Somerville).  Was she  (Mistress Fraser) in the cast for Chichester or did Stella sing this song?   

At the moment this is the song that I like the best and it was sung beautifully in the Edinburgh show, but sadly mixed up with dialogue in Chichester.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 07, 2022, 09:06:50 AM
According to my booklet from the Edinburgh show, "I Wonder If I Can Go Home Again" was sung by Mistress Fraser (Wendy Somerville).  Was she  (Mistress Fraser) in the cast for Chichester or did Stella sing this song?   

At the moment this is, for me, the song that I like the best and it was sung beautifully in the Edinburgh show, but sadly mixed up with dialogue in Chichester.

It was also sung by Mistress Fraser.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on November 07, 2022, 09:10:01 AM
According to my booklet from the Edinburgh show, "I Wonder If I Can Go Home Again" was sung by Mistress Fraser (Wendy Somerville).  Was she  (Mistress Fraser) in the cast for Chichester or did Stella sing this song?   

At the moment this is, for me, the song that I like the best and it was sung beautifully in the Edinburgh show, but sadly mixed up with dialogue in Chichester.

It was also sung by Mistress Fraser.

Thank you!    I hope they amend this eventually, because it is too beautiful to be interrupted by dialogue.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 07, 2022, 10:20:25 AM
According to my booklet from the Edinburgh show, "I Wonder If I Can Go Home Again" was sung by Mistress Fraser (Wendy Somerville).  Was she  (Mistress Fraser) in the cast for Chichester or did Stella sing this song?   

At the moment this is, for me, the song that I like the best and it was sung beautifully in the Edinburgh show, but sadly mixed up with dialogue in Chichester.

It was also sung by Mistress Fraser.

Thank you!    I hope they amend this eventually, because it is too beautiful to be interrupted by dialogue.

My favorites are "Houston, we have a problem", "What a life", "Rocks and water" and the new version of "Numbers" which is quite cool and better in my opinion from the one of Edinburgh. All of them have very very cool MK guitar licks and also are very recognizable as MK songs despite being part of a musical.

From the 2019 version I liked also "Aiming from the stars" which is no longer in the Chichester version. I understand it's not anymore as it was weird as an end, but I liked it anyway, quite hypnotich melodies on it.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on November 07, 2022, 01:34:32 PM
From Guy's Forum today:

Q:   Hello Doc. Some friends attending Local Hero, I think last thursday, told me that there were cammeras at the theatre, that were not when I attented it during the last preview. Is anything planned with that? I mean, streaming one of the shows or release it in any video format? I think this would be an excellent news for all those fans that were not able to travel but would love to see it!

Guy:  There were indeed cameras at the show last week. I can’t offer any info on that at this point.

 Thanks for your question jbaent.   It would be great to have a video of the Chichester show for those who haven't attended at Chichester.  I hope one eventually emerges!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on November 08, 2022, 07:55:52 AM
Eager to hear from Ingrid how she experienced the show at Chichester!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Kris-b on November 08, 2022, 08:23:46 AM
 I know from someone at FB that Mark wasn‘t there
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on November 08, 2022, 09:40:41 AM
Kris, I see that you were one of those people who attended LHM.  Did you enjoy the show?   :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Kris-b on November 08, 2022, 08:41:27 PM
Yes, It was a great show again, the cast wonderful and the music and lyrics as expected really beautiful. And a nice experience to sit so close to the stage.
I went with my husband who is not a MK fan, and he really enjoyed it too. I did miss one or two songs they played in Scotland, but the changes where also beautiful.

So overall it was definitely worth the travel from Germany and I hope to see it again in London!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: superval99 on November 09, 2022, 08:51:05 AM
Yes, It was a great show again, the cast wonderful and the music and lyrics as expected really beautiful. And a nice experience to sit so close to the stage.
I went with my husband who is not a MK fan, and he really enjoyed it too. I did miss one or two songs they played in Scotland, but the changes where also beautiful.

So overall it was definitely worth the travel from Germany and I hope to see it again in London!

Good to hear you enjoyed the show!    :)
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 09, 2022, 09:22:03 AM
Actually, in some aspects, I would say that Chichester was better than Edinburgh...

First, the theatre and the stage. It is a small venue and the stage is "inside" the audience, so you are so close that it's an experience you can't live in Edinburgh, as it's a normal theatre where everyone is in front of the stage. Here, the actors are with you in a way.

Secondly, the beach, having a beach as part of the stage creates a sense that the Edinburgh show didn't have. I honestly hope that if this goes to London, they do the same.

Third, the actors who played the main roles were as good than Edinburgh, in fact in some cases, for me they were even better. Gabriel Ebbert was far better as Mac than was Damian Humbley, who had a great powerful voice, but Ebbert actoral skills are from out of this world, no wonder why he has a Tony award from Broadway. Also Paul Higgings was a better Gordon than Matthew Pidgeon in the sense Paul provided the character with a more humanized feel, he was cold when he had, sentimental when needed, with more soul. Lillie Flynn was as good for Stella as was Katrina Bryan, both provided the role with character, soul and power. The rest of cast in my opinion were Ok, but Edinburgh cast was a bit better for me.

Fourth, the music. I think it was also better than in Edinburgh. The musicians were playing reading sheets in both Edinburgh and Chichester, so it's clear all music was rewritten as apart of the three new songs, the rest also have different arrangements, sometimes slightly but noticiable. All those changes were for better in my opinion, specially when it comes to the guitar parts, now there are more MK guitar licks that makes it more enjoyable. Also the first number is far better in Chichester, with a lot of effects, even fire flames! Also Gabriel Ebbert sung "Houston, we have a problem" literally "suspended in the air", which was so effective to create the sense he was in a plane flying... I guess it wasn't that nice for him, LOL

The only thing I found not as good was the second half, where some songs from Edinburgh dissapeared and were substituted by some other songs reprises, and also there were a lot of talking during the second half, which for a musical is weird, but considering how brilliant the first half was and that most of the musical reprises of the second half had a lot of MK guitar things here and there even the smallest of the them were worth.

It this goes to London, which I hope it does, I hope it is more similar to Chichester than to Edinburgh in general, and I trully hope they can have Gabriel Ebbert and Paul Higgins, with Katrina Bryan, and also Adam Pearce as Viktor, he was far better in Edinburgh than the one in Chichester. Also I hope that in musical terms, the London one would be similar to Chichester, also I hope they can arrange new songs for the second half.

Also I hope that if it goes to London, it goes with a cd release, that I wish contain the music played by MK and his musicians at British Grove, with the voices from the cast, it is meant to be in these cases, also hope for a bonus cd with some of those songs sung by MK, but that looks unlikely once you see them at the musical.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on November 09, 2022, 10:32:15 AM
The ideal thing would be a transfer of the Chichester production to London in 2023.
But the CFT website gives many different possibilites: a transfer to Canada, a UK/Ireland tour or just London:
https://www.cft.org.uk/cft-in-london-and-on-tour

So from that we cannot draw any conclusions for now.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 09, 2022, 10:46:44 AM
The ideal thing would be a transfer of the Chichester production to London in 2023.
But the CFT website gives many different possibilites: a transfer to Canada, a UK/Ireland tour or just London:
https://www.cft.org.uk/cft-in-london-and-on-tour

So from that we cannot draw any conclusions for now.

Actually, there must be a chance for London as Daniel Evans is joining the Royal Shakespear Company that have not only Shakespear plays but also others in Stratford-upon-avon and London theaters, right now, the RSC have two musicals, "Matilda" at the Cambridge Theatre at the West End, and "Totoro" at the Barbican Centre, both in London. As far as the Chichester's Local Hero is a Daniel Evans production, transfer it to the Cambridge Th or the Barbican, once he's on charge of the RSC, would be easy.

https://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/

Evans joins the RSC in April 2023, so, who knows if there would be a chance for it through him and that company at the end of 2023?

https://www.cft.org.uk/news/daniel-evans-announces-his-departure-from-chichester-festival-theatre-to-become-co-artistic-director-of-the-royal-shakespeare-company
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 09, 2022, 10:53:03 AM
The ideal thing would be a transfer of the Chichester production to London in 2023.
But the CFT website gives many different possibilites: a transfer to Canada, a UK/Ireland tour or just London:
https://www.cft.org.uk/cft-in-london-and-on-tour

So from that we cannot draw any conclusions for now.

I looked more carefully that London and On Tour section and, also could be something very likely, "South Pacific" had an adaptation by Evans at Chichester and had a season in London and now was on tour in the UK; and "The Unfriend" was also succesful at CHichester and now is in London too... That would had been great play to attend, Steve Moffatt and Mark Gatiss behind it, love their works!

A UK tour for the Local Hero musical could be something really amazing!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: goon525 on November 09, 2022, 05:39:53 PM
I hope Julio is right, but still concerned that the slightly lukewarm reception in the national press might kill the chances.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 09, 2022, 06:43:05 PM
I hope Julio is right, but still concerned that the slightly lukewarm reception in the national press might kill the chances.

All shows had been sold out and the ones that not, are close to, and in Edinburgh it was so successful than they had to add extra weeks. Who cares about those critics when you achieve the most important, that is selling tickets!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on November 09, 2022, 06:56:48 PM
"Who cares about those critics when you achieve the most important, that is selling tickets!

Exactly !
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 10, 2022, 08:29:41 AM
"Who cares about those critics when you achieve the most important, that is selling tickets!

Exactly !

That's in the end what's most important. If you are producing a play and you wanted it in London, you want it to be financially viable. If you had two or three bad critics of national newspapers of well known critics that usually destroy whatever they attend to make them look cool, but you had that play in two different cities and two different theaters, and sold out all dates and in one of them you had to add extra dates, you know the audience was going, which is the most important, that's what the producers would look after, if it is financially viable.

If it sold all tickets in previous venues, not only Chichester that was a small venue, but also in Edinburgh, with a normal size of venue, and you had to add extra dates, the numbers are good enough to think that might work, specially when it involves Mark Knopfler, that being London, I'm sure he would embark in a promotion campaign in radios and tvs to help selling tickets.

Also, they have all the tickets sold for the Old Vic as a sign of how good or bad it would do it in London. Once you have that numbers, who cares about critics in their thrones looking at their bellies?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on November 10, 2022, 10:05:38 AM
Once you have that numbers, who cares about critics in their thrones looking at their bellies?

Lolz, calm down, they weren't even bad reviews!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 10, 2022, 10:29:39 AM
Once you have that numbers, who cares about critics in their thrones looking at their bellies?

Lolz, calm down, they weren't even bad reviews!

Actually, it makes me recall a MK quote, can't remember when and where I read or heard it, but he said something like "If musical critics know about music, they would be musicians, instead of musical critics".

Most critics are genuine and make their best to describe what they see, in order to give the people a clue of what they are going to see, what should be their work really, but some of them think they have a kind of power, and use it to increase that power. It happens not only in music but all kind of sectors, where there are some of these critics that can destroy you just for sport, just for make them feel how powerful they are. They are just selfish people with zero value in reality.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on November 21, 2022, 09:43:47 AM
Saturday night saw the last performance of Local Hero in Chichester, exactly nine months after Julio first hinted at a possible revival on February 18th.
Since neither the TCT project nor the album saw the light of day, the musical was really something to look forward to and a topic for some interesting discussions during 2022.
Hopefully we'll have a similar MK related topic to discuss and get excited about in the new year!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on November 21, 2022, 02:41:30 PM
Yeah, just looking forward for a confirmation of a much waited transfer to London, with the chance of a cd release of the music!

Something says to me that in a way this is the only thing we'll have next year to look for in terms of anything Knopfler related on a stage!
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: skydiver on December 19, 2022, 09:48:45 AM
In response to an email inquiry the Chichester Festival Theatre answered that they have currently no plans for a transfer of the musical to London or a UK tour, but they do not rule out a revival in the future.
So either Daniel Evans takes "his" production with him to the RSC or the CFT has plans which they do not commuicate at the moment.
I do not think/hope that it is shelved again.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on December 19, 2022, 10:57:05 AM
I'm quite sure Daniel Evans take his version of the musical to the RSC but I'm not sure if for next year or the other, I guess it depends if they had something already scheduled after Totoro and Matilda.
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: Robson on December 19, 2022, 02:08:10 PM
"Something says to me that in a way this is the only thing we'll have next year to look for in terms of anything Knopfler related on a stage!

It’s true :(
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: jbaent on January 16, 2023, 01:20:05 PM
I was thinking about those shows that Guy confirmed they recorded and the purpose of them. I didn't asked Guy as I think he's going to answers he can't say a thing, so I guess those recordings might be for two purposes:

- Release them in any way
- Having them just in case it transfers to London and show them to the company

It is known that Daniel Evans will move to the Royal Shakespeare Company, I think in April, that right now has "Matilda" and "My friend Totoro" in London, and my guess has been that maybe Evans wants to get that Local Hero transfer to London through the RSC, that recordings might be handy.

What do you think?
Title: Re: Local Hero at Chichester FEstival, October and November 2022
Post by: dustyvalentino on January 16, 2023, 03:00:14 PM
I think you might be right, but possibly not. :)