Loading summary
Transcript11 lines
- [00:00]
A
This is Hannah Burner from Giggly Squad. Opill is the first over the counter daily birth control pill available in the us. Let's be real, getting a birth control prescription is not always easy and it's so much admin. In fact, about a third of women face barriers to access prescription birth control. Between scheduling appointments, missing work class or just trying to exist, it's a lot. But now Opill is putting birth control in our control. Opill is a daily birth control that's FDA approved, full prescription strength and estrogen free and 98 effective when used as directed. Grab it online or at most major retailers. No prescription or doctor's appointment needed. So if you're thinking about birth control, check out OPILL to see if it's right for you. Use code giggly for 25% off your first month of opill at O-P-I-L-L.com that's code giggly p-I l l.com birth control in your control. We love to see it.
- [00:57]
B
ACAST powers the World's Best Podcasts Here's a show that we recommend.
- [01:09]
C
Hello everyone, I'm James Richardson and I host the Toadley Football show four times a week. If you're not familiar with it, perhaps you'd care to give it a listen in the season ahead because we cover all the big stuff. Premier League, Champions League, in depth, European League coverage, Football League and more. We've got insights and analysis from the best reporters in the industry and we've got quizzes and nostalgia too. Plus, we're going to be bigger and broader than ever for the season ahead. So check out the Totally Football show wherever you get your podcast. The rest is not as good as the Totally Football Show. Unbelievable. This.
- [01:45]
B
ACAST helps creators launch, grow and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com I first saw this show at the Old Vic and I said bad mistakes. They made a few. It is very rare that I get to sit here and say to you guess what? They fixed them. Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. Or hello to you if you are listening to this on podcast platforms. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am a professional theatre critic and social media content creator and today I'm going to be telling you all about the West End transfer of the musical Just for One Day, which tells the story of the iconic concert that was Live Aid as well as everything else that surrounded the concert. The story of Band Aid, how it all came to be in an era of political cruelty and international crisis. Now, this is not the first time that I am reviewing this musical here on my social media platforms. It first played at the Old Vic Theatre a couple of winters ago and I saw the show there and I gave it a three star review and I noted that there were a handful of issues with the show, particularly in the way that it was framed, that I would like to addressed. And I'm very pleased to say, and I don't get to say this very often, that I went back to see the show at the Shaftesbury Theatre in the West End where it is now playing. And it is, to my mind, wildly improved for reasons that I will explain. In short, I liked this version of the show so much better than the version I saw back at the Old Vic. There are also a couple of changes to the cast. I'm going to talk about the sensational performances. I'm going to talk about how exactly this show tells the story of Live Aid as a jukebox musical and who I think should definitely go and see it. Now. If you have already been to see it at the Shaftesbury Theatre, or if you saw it at the Old Vic, or if you saw its production in Canada, in Toronto, please let us all know what you thought of Just For One Day, the Live Aid musical in the comments section down below. And if you enjoy listening to my review, make sure to subscribe right here on YouTube. Turn on those notifications so YouTube lets you know every time I share a new video or go follow me on podcast platforms. In the meantime, here are my thoughts on the updated version of Just For One Day. So Just For One Day tells the story of a monumental day in British and American music history, and it has arrived in the West End with serendipitous timing. I got to attend the gala performance celebrating the 40th anniversary of live Aid to the day, which was obviously a very special way to see the show. And what that experience in particular made clear to me is that the impact of Live Aid is still felt generations later. And what this show is empowered to do particularly well is to capture and conjure the nostalgia for that time, but also explain its impact and its power to new generations like myself, who weren't born in the 80s. And the musical, which has been written by John O', Farrell, understands that that is its remit because in its framing device it introduces us to a handful of characters who together recall the story of Live Aid from this sort of out of time perspective. We have a young girl getting ready to go to university And a character who is now her mother, I believe, at the Old Vic, they weren't actually related, they just represented different gener times. But now this is a mother and daughter. And the mum who was a teenager during the 80s who went to Live Aid, has this book of memories of the day and of the era that she wants her daughter to take with her so that she can understand what it meant. And the daughter is indifferent to this. She doesn't care about Live Aid. She doesn't particularly know about Live Aid. And she perhaps sees it through a cynical Gen Z lens. And this is an important lens. And the show is aware of that. And this, I think, is their way of acknowledging the criticism of Live Aid that has, you know, been ongoing since it. It happened. And its depiction as this White Savior music festival. And the complicated image of this thing that raised so much money and achieved so much change and ignited this charity that continues to do good to this day and critically is partially funded by this show. I think it's 10% of the ticket proceeds for Just for One Day. The musical, the Live Aid musical in the West End are going to the Band Aid Trust, which continues to do fantastic and important charitable work, but which, at the same time, going back to Live Aid, was also two stadiums on different continents full of people jumping up and down and listening to great music while people in the third world suffered. And so any conversation that we have about Live Aid is an inherently complicated one. And though it is a fantastic and well remembered story that means a lot to British audiences, it is also a challenging one to depict responsibly. And this was a huge part of what my problem with it was at the Old Vic. I thought that it, you know, acknowledged the suffering and the famine and the reason behind it all. And it invoked much of the criticism of Live Aid and the way that it was framed. But I didn't feel as though that carried enough weight or necessarily made enough of an impact with the audience. And my biggest issue was I felt as though the second act and the finale became so rousing and so exciting that it was allowing audiences to leave the theater with little impulse to donate to the charity, with little impulse to go out into the world and, you know, carry on that message and carry on that important work. I think for a show like this, which is so overtly political and all art is political, but this more than most, in recalling the emotions of this time, the challenge of putting all of this together and the drive and the ambition that existed because it was the right thing to do, because of how important it was because of how strongly and passionately people like Bob Geldof felt about the human suffering that was taking place. A show recalling that ought to leave audiences feeling galvanized to go out and affect change. And what it shouldn't do is allow people who were there, who were alive during that time to sit there and think, oh gosh, wasn't Live Aid a fantastic day? And then go out into the streets and continue to vote Conservative, or worse, reform. I remember sitting in the Old Vic auditorium and thinking, what is this show doing if it is not inciting a complacent middle class generation to recall the day when they were participatory in changing the world, in achieving something extraordinary and remarkable, the likes of which haven't necessarily been seen since on the same scale. And stepping off of that soapbox for just a moment, what I need to tell you is that the version now playing at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, I think delivers that a lot more strongly. And not just because I was at a performance where Sir Bob Geldof came on at the end and spoke about the importance of it all and gave an upwards of 30 minute curtain call speech, but also because there have been rewrites to some of the material, particularly the scenes taking place in proximity to the suffering as a result of the Ethiopian famine, depicting one of the aid workers there. There is what I think is a new scene that has been added in which she discusses with a colleague her initial outrage after hearing about the Live Aid concert and having the same perspective on it that many people have now that it's this white savior thing and they're, you know, making a song it and playing their instruments while not considering the weight of human suffering taking place. But more than anything else, it's about the delivery and it's the performance of Rianne Louise Mikulski and the power that she conveys and the way in which she, I think, necessarily sort of slightly shames the audience and makes it impossible for you to, figuratively speaking, look away from the tragedy that she is explaining. There's this extended monologue in which she helps to explain the humanity of it all by relating the victims of the famine to individuals that you might know, children that you might have gone to school with. She is such a force in this production that she plays a huge part in shifting its priorities and reframing it just enough that it is still a celebration of Live Aid, but it is also a powerful reminder of what it meant and the reason behind it. Anyway, let's Talk a little bit more about how the show actually works. Like I said, three characters framing the thing. You have the daughter who is indifferent about Live Aid. You have the mother who is recalling being. Being a young teenager and falling in love and being so excited about the concert. And you have Sir Bob Geldof explaining how it all came together in the first place. The broadcast which he saw presented by Michael Burke, which first galvanized him into, you know, wanting to do something about it. His collaboration with Mid Year and the Band Aid single. And as you might expect, this is a jukebox musical using the songs from that time, using the songs from the artists who appeared at Live Aid, but in something of a masterstroke from director Luke Shepard, not depicting all of those artists directly. Now, the people who really contributed to making Live Aid happen directly, like Sir Bob Geldof and Medjure and Harvey Goldsmith, they are rendered and portrayed as characters within the show. But artists like Freddie Mercury and Boy George and Madonna are invoked rather than directly portrayed. They are not impersonated, but their songs are performed and the essence of their artistry, if you like, is conjured. And we don't actually arrive to the Live Aid of it all until the second act because there is so much preamble required in terms of how we get there in the first place and all of the difficult logistical challenges, as well as the emotional journey of Bob Geldof to this point. Now I want to talk about some of the standout moments of this production, some of which are powerful highlights, and a couple of which I think are still moments that could be further embellished, moments that could represent so much more and perhaps will in future non Replica productions. I dare say that this is a show that could go on to be seen in different ways with different creatives working on it. And obviously, once we do get into the Live Aid of it all, it becomes really dynamic, hugely entertaining. Not only do the audience members in the room who have a memory of Live Aid get to recall the energy of it and what it was like and feel that nostalgia, but also it is just fantastic music being performed by a dynamite company of remarkable performers, astonishing vocalists. It sounds fantastic. The band are so freaking great in this show. I really like the way that all of the Live Aid stuff is staged as well, because we have screens wrapping around the back of the stage at the Shaft Spree, occasionally incorporating video elements that are being captured from the stage area. This is one of my favorite uses of video, live video on stage, because it isn't getting the way of Our focus and our emotional connection with the performance. It's happening in the background and it gives it the sense of a concert and it gives it that sense of scale and excitement. But it's just sort of an embellishment to the performance on stage, which still remains the central uninterrupted component. That is, of course, the work of the prolific video and projection designer Andre Goulding. It is obviously a Gareth Owens sounds design. He does fantastic work, Always great lighting design. So much lighting from Howard Hudson. But the biggest success story of the show creatively, I think, is its musical identity and the arrangements and orchestrations and the musical supervision is by Matthew Brind. The musical director is Patrick Hurley. And it sounds nothing short of phenomenal. It is also a huge compliment that it has the stamp of approval of so many iconic music legends. Bob Geldof and Mature have both said in interviews multiple times how excited Pete Townsend was about this dynamic new arrangement of my generation, which is fantastic. Another of my favorite musical moments in the show is when we have this mashed up trio of get into the Groove and Rebel, Rebel and don't you forget about me happening overlapping because obviously we can't do fully every single fantastic song from Live Aid. We haven't the time. But what we can do is illustrate to an audience that frenetic feel of great song, one after another after another after another, and how many incredible performers there were by overlapping them with this brilliant, frenzied intensity. Other moments, meanwhile, get a little more time to themselves and get a little more pathos. Like, of course, one of the highlight memories of Live Aid, Freddie Mercury's performance of Bohemian Rhapsody. And who else but the remarkable Freddie Love to take this on. Freddie also did this at the Old Vic. In fact, as soon as was announced, I was looking through the names and I said, Freddie Love is in this. Freddie Love better be doing Freddie Mercury. It works so well. It is not a dead ringer Freddie Mercury impression because Freddie Love has this fascinating voice. They are a musical theater and cabaret star and there's actually an unmistakable classical timbre that they bring to this performance of Bohemian Rhapsody, which I think, for what it's worth, Freddie Mercury would absolutely love. Very special for the 40th anniversary performance that Sir Brian May in the stalls in Freddy's Eye line as this song was being performed. It's a fantastic moment, but I have to say, one of the most emotional performances that we get in that second act once we get into the Live Aid of it all, is when Craig ells as Sir Bob Geldof performs I Don't Like Mondays, as a friend of mine pointed out when they saw the show recently, never has a song about a school shooting been so crowd pleasing. But it's the culmination of that moment of achievement for Bob, and especially after we have seen everything that he has gone through emotionally to get to that point and his determination to make it all happen that empowers this to be such a standout moment. And fantastically performed by Craig Ells. And speaking of everything that he's gone through a little earlier in the show, back in the first act, we meet a very important character, namely one Margaret Thatcher, the then Prime Minister, and something of a barrier to the plans of Band Aid and Live Aid, who eventually stepped out of the way after meetings with Geldof. Meetings which in this show are depicted with a sort a rap battle between the two that devolves into an admittedly bizarre performance of Elton John's I'm Still Standing. It honestly has to be seen to be believed. It is deeply satirical. It is landed by the zany commitment of Julie Atherton's performance as Margaret Thatcher. I do enduringly have mixed feelings about having to applaud Thatcher after this moment, and I think it could be even a little more critical of her perspective on it all. But it's ultimately presenting her as a comedy character as you, wildly out of touch and disconnected from the emotional mission of Band Aid and of Live Aid. And it's not one of my big complaints about the show. Those have now been reduced to a handful of moments that I think have the capacity to be so powerful and to more specifically involve the audience. One of them comes at the very end and it's when Paul McCartney is singing Let It Be and the power fails, which I believe is reminiscent of what happened at the actual Live Aid performance. And what they articulate and what they show us within the storytelling is that the audience then began to sing along. And it was this powerful, unexpected moment. And out of the crisis of oh, no, what are we going to do? Came this beautiful moment of community, emblematic of everything that it was meant to represent. And how fantastic would it be if the audience in the theatre spontaneously began to sing along at that moment and it could be achieved. I know it sounds difficult to pull that off and to get the audience to do that without directly telling them or putting the lyrics up and being like, everybody, sing along. Or holding up a sign or something cheesy, which I don't want, but you have members of the company walking onto the stage from the wings and beginning to sing it and illustrating that that's what happened. As we hear more and more voices singing Let It Be. And if they just did that in the stalls in different levels of the theatre instead, I think a British audience would so begin to sing along with that. We have problems most of the time at musicals in the West End if the audience know the songs, if they're jukebox shows specifically, getting the audience to. To stop singing along. I'm sure there are performances of Just For One Day where people are singing along to other songs. We are so close, we just need the tiniest bit of permission. And then the whole theater, almost everyone, is going to know the lyrics to Let It Be. The whole theater will start singing along and it will be so stunning. And in fact, you know what would lay the foundation brilliantly for that is if Freddie Love in the Freddie Mercury moment got to do the call and response day, oh, moment and did it with us in the audience, we'd be warmed up, we'd be prepared and we'd have broken through. That British of like, oh, are we allowed to start singing? Would have taught us that we can. So when Let It Be happens, we would. Anyway, at some point a production is going to happen and a director is going to empower that audience to spontaneously sing the song and it's going to be great. There's another sort of a parallel moment that happens in the first act when they're recording Band Aid and they're starting to lay the vocals down because they don't believe that anyone else is coming, though they invited all of these other legendary vocalists and musicians and recording artists to join them. It seems as though no one else is going to show up and they, you know, they're paying too much money for the hiring of. Of the recording studio and they just have to start singing it. But at the moment when they do, other artists begin to appear. And it's difficult to show this in a way that would be as powerful as if you were doing it in a film and directly portraying all those artists, because you just have other vocalists joining, but they aren't specifically representing any individual. Again, it's just the idea that those artists eventually did arrive and join in and sing the song. There's also just a little something, I think I said this last time time, about the timing with which they appear in that moment and the way that it falls in the music where it could just be a little bit more impactful than it is. Circling back some wonderful highlights, though, in the moments when this show really does win me over. There are some very powerful musicalized moments set in Ethiopia. A really brilliant use of the Bob Dylan song Blowing in the Wind, made all the more powerful by this very impactful use of projection and lighting. There is also a charming subplot about the young love between the mother character, the younger version of her, and the young guy who she is working in a record shop with, who pretend that he has a different taste in music, but who gets her a ticket to Live Aid when she is stuck in an exam. And the two of them, you know, aren't able to articulate their feelings towards each other, but then they are. It's very sweet and it's one of the many ways in which the show attempts to represent, I think, a lot of the things that came out of Live Aid. The young relationships, the started there, and the fond memories that people have attached to this remarkable day. And the script tries to cover a lot of ground on that front as well. We hear the stories of individuals who participated. I think if there's one thing that isn't articulated as strongly in this new version of the show as it was when it was at the Old Vic, it's that aspect of it. And hearing all of the real people behind Live Aid, other than the big names, other than the Harvey Goldsmiths, the mid year's, the Bob Geldofs, the Margaret Thatchers, back at the Old Vic, it felt more like it was trying to be the come from away of Live Aid. And you know, with Geldof as the central character and with this mother daughter relationship and with the girl and her boyfriend and now giving more deference to the events unfolding in Ethiopia, there just isn't time for all of it. You can either tell a story about the real ordinary people of Live Aid, of which there are many fascinating stories, or you can tell this one finally. Then let's talk about the fantastic performances of this extraordinary.
- [20:51]
D
It's that time of year again, Back to school season. And Instacart knows that the only thing harder than getting back into the swing of things is getting all the back to school supplies, snacks and essentials you need. So here's your reminder to make your life a little easier this season. Shop favorites from Staples, Best Buy and Costco, all delivered through Instacart so that you can get some time back and do whatever it is that you need to get your life back on track. Instacart, we're here. The school year is beginning. But don't settle for basic tissues when it comes to managing all the messes that come with it from home to school and back. Stock up with Kleenex Ultra Soft Tissues because back to school means back to sniffles and sneezes. Kleenex Ultra Soft Tissues are soft and absorbent to stand up against runny noses to keep you and your family clean and comforted as the school year starts. This school year, make sure to get the classroom essential that teachers and students can relax for whatever happens next. Grab kleenex. Visit kleenex.com to learn more.
- [21:57]
B
So Craig Ells is giving this chameleonic performance as Sir Bob Geldof. He is reprising his role from the Old Vic production. I think he is brilliant. He does a fantastic job with the accent. He has this sort of a creaking quality to it which is a little different from how Bob's is in conversation conversation with him. I had the very unique experience of getting to interview the likes of Sir Bob Geldof and Harvey Goldsmith and mid year on the carpet beforehand and then going in to see the show. I will say the one who struck me the most as really capturing the essence of that human was Georgiou who is playing mid year now. George is actually Scottish, his predecessor at the Old Vic was not and mid year assured me personally that the accent is now slightly more accurate. But let me tell you, I have missed George Yur performing on stage. I got to see him in Wicked back in the day. He does a brilliant job as Midge. Sounds phenomenal singing, dancing, singing Vienna. But to give Craig his full credit, he does have singular sort of status and star power as the leading man of this show. The energy that he brings to the whole thing is one of real power and command. Some other new additions to the cast include Tim Hendren as Harvey Goldsmith. He does a great job with the frustrations and the comedy of this character. Kelly Agbowu as Marshall Russia sounds brilliant and gets a real phenomenal crowd pleasing moment of dressing down Sir Bob Geldof with a curse filled speech, having a go at him for daring to give up after all of the hard work that they had put into making the thing happen. Melissa Jakes is also a new addition to the cast as Suzanne, the mother that I told you about who is telling the story of her younger self played by Hope Kenner. The resemblance between the two is much closer than it was at the Old Vic and I think works really well. Melissa is also one of the best actresses that we have working at the moment when it comes to these maternal characters recalling younger versions of themselves. That's something that she's done in a couple of shows now. She's really good at it. Faith Ifill plays her daughter Gemma. I still take issue with moments of this material. Have I ever seen the depiction of a typical Gen Z character that I have enjoyed on stage? Not really. I think so many of them are written to be just a little too outspoken. The exact nuance of the Gen Z political and social identity is not quite being accurately conveyed and it's just coming across as needlessly argumentative and annoying. And that's counterintuitive because I think all it's doing is enraging older generations of theater goers. And I think something more honest than having this character come in with all of these preconceptions about Live Aid would be having this character come in knowing nothing about Live Aid and seeing things differently as the events are explained, but gradually coming to understand the value of it at same time and, you know, holding both understandings simultaneously. Faith does a great job of playing this role, of course, and singing. My generation sounds unbelievable and so many of them do. These are probably the best vocals that you're going to hear right now in the West End. Eloise Davis is giving one of the most sensational vocal standout moments of the entire show. I've already spoken about how much I love Freddie Love, but Eloise tears the entire house down, tears the ceiling off of the Shaftesbury Theatre and FL fun fact, it is a skylight, so that is possible. But sounds unbelievable singing. I think it was We Are the Champions. Whatever it was. I was just having this out of body experience with how great this vocal was from Eloise and a bunch of the company have these standout moments. This is a fantastic show for like everybody getting their chance to shine, which I think is an overused expression in reviews, but in this one it's really true. Jordan Cambridge Taylor has a really brilliant charismatic moment giving us Rebel Rebel. Tamara Tear, wonderful in the same sequence doing get into the Groove. James Hamid also sounds fantastic, but the real standout for me and the performer who was so brilliant that they basically changed my mind about this entire show. Rianne Louise Mikulski, the power that she brings to the stage is not only compelling and engaging and entertaining, it's also important. It's vital, in fact, to the real message and the real heart and the soul of this show. And so those are my updated thoughts about Just For One Day, the Live Aid musical. I love getting to come on here and talk about a show that has done the work that has consistent considered its responsibilities, its framing, and the story that it wants to tell and how best to tell that story. And I love getting to tell you how much something has improved that almost never happens. And yet, sadly, I don't think the show is really selling as well as it ought to be. There's an entire generation who would love seeing this on stage. My parents would love this musical on stage, and I also think a lot of younger theater fans would love getting to discover details that they didn't know about this time in history. Even if you're aware of Live Aid, chances are there's a lot that you're going to learn about it if you go and see this show. Also, not for nothing, the music is fantastic. It's this incredible list of songs from all of these iconic artists sung extraordinarily well. One of the best cast of vocalists currently in the West End, one of the best bands. It is musically sensational. And so if you have any kind of a love for the music of that era, if you have relatives who do, even if they don't consider themselves musical theater people, this plays out a lot more like a music biopic film, like your bohemian rap rhapsodies, those sorts of movies. And I think it's particularly a shame when there is a show that would really connect to so many people and doesn't get seen by them. So if you are that person, get yourself to the Shaftesbury Theatre. If you live with that person, get them to the Shaftesbury Theatre. Go and see Just for One Day the Live Aid musical and if you have already, I would love to know what you thought. Did you also see it at the Old Vic? What did you think of some of the changes? Let me and everyone else know your thoughts in the comments section down below. In the meantime, thank you for listening to my thoughts. If you enjoyed this, make sure to subscribe to my theatre themed YouTube channel for more reviews coming very soon or follow me on podcast platforms. I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. Oh, and now you have to say it back for ten more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day.
- [28:12]
C
Subscribe.
- [28:16]
D
For 140 for many years, Multicare has been in Washington prioritizing long term solutions, partnering with local communities and expanding access to care. Together, we're building a healthier future. Learn more@ multicare.org.
- [28:34]
B
Acast powers the world's best podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend. Hello everyone.
- [28:47]
C
I'm James Richardson and I host the Totally Football show four times a week. If you're not familiar with it, perhaps you'd care to give it a listen in the season ahead. Because we cover all the big stuff Premier League, Champions League, in depth, European League coverage, Football League, and more. We've got insights and analysis from the best reporters in the industry, and we've got quizzes and nostalgia, too. Plus, we're going to be bigger and broader than ever for the season ahead. So check out the Totally Football show wherever you get your podcast. The rest is not as good as the Totally Football Show.
- [29:23]
B
ACAST helps creators launch, grow, and monetize their podcasts everywhere. Acast.com.