Britmania

[Rhaw757]

According to the app, there are no shows today. I wonder why that is. I know the park likes to give the cast a day off for most shows (if not all) but it's a Sunday and usually Britmania's off day is Thursday. Is there some other event going on in the Globe Theater today? That's the only explanation I can think of. I'm just disappointed because I was looking forward to seeing it this evening.

 

[ToddF]

The lady in the "Hello" scene no longer starts the scene inside the telephone booth. Instead, she crosses from under the curtain on stage left and crosses over to the phone booth. Strangely, I heard a lot of people laughing at this. The change makes sense though because the phone is ringing at the start of the song, and the lighting in the phone booth isn't a flattering way to start a scene anyway.

People giggle at the start of that song because it's just so corny to have the phone ring and her pick it up and say, "Hello" to start the song. But, that's part of why this song has become one of my favorites in the show. In "real life" I dislike both Adele and this song, and can't change the station fast enough. I've never liked over-emoting recording artists like Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, and Adele. I also tend to prefer dance shows (Miracles) over vocal shows (Gloria). Just my personal taste.

But this song is a tribute to the talent of the lead vocalist and also the creative team behind Britmania. It starts out with people laughing at how corny it is. But she goes out there and F-ing OWNs it. By the time she drops the overcoat, and steps forward in her red dress, the chuckles have stopped. And when the curtain rises for the rest of the company to join in, it's just breathtaking. She reaches out to the people in those seats and says, "You're MY audience. You're going to swallow that laughter and feel what I want you to feel." That takes serious talent as a performer. And the rest of the cast, the lighting, and the sound are right there with her. I'm seriously blown away every time I see it. It's been half a dozen times now, and I STILL have a tear in my eye when the lights drop at the end. And I don't even LIKE that song. That's how good that performance is.

It's brilliant.

 

[MAZ]

What he said^!! My daughter and I saw this Friday and I found myself laughing while she was in the booth. After that though, it was like BooM! I would see this show again. It's almost like britmainia is what I expected LR to be, but was ultimately disappointed. Better late than never! (Only complaint is the sound board mixing.)

 

[Alf33]

I hear ya on the sound board mixing Maz! I fully believe that the PA system in the Globe has so much more potential for good sound quality than what it usually sounds like, which is generally underwhelming. And it pretty much been this way for years. I can see that they don't want to blast people out but to me the vocals need to be a little more pronounced and the bass a little deeper at the least.

 

[Rhaw757]

I have to agree strongly on the opinions of "Hello" stated above. I never cared for the song either, but my God, the vocalist (and every other bit so well done during that song) makes that part of the show my favorite along with Stairway To Heaven. She really does have an excellent stage presence.

Celtic Fyre will always be my number 1, but Britmania has taken over a very close second. All For One is really good as well. If only BGW could get their mess sorted out in Festhaus, this would be one of the best main season show lineups I've ever seen in the park.

 

[Lord Robert]

I have to agree strongly on the opinions of "Hello" stated above.  I never cared for the song either, but my God, the vocalist (and every other bit so well done during that song) makes that part of the show my favorite along with Stairway To Heaven.  She really does have an excellent stage presence.

Celtic Fyre will always be my number 1, but Britmania has taken over a very close second.  All For One is really good as well.  If only BGW could get their mess sorted out in Festhaus, this would be one of the best main season show lineups I've ever seen in the park.

I agree, the direction/performance of "Hello" was incredibly strong along with "Stairway to Heaven" but I think the show as a whole is directed very well. I think my top 3 shows in 2017 are as followed at this point: "Celtic Fyre" for being the best show in the park period, with both "Britmania" and "All For One" on the number 2 spot for both shows are solid, beautiful, and very well directed, and of course "Mix It Up" being honored for the 3rd spot for me.

"OktoberZest" has good things in it that I really like, but it's inconsistency is the show's biggest sin that desperately needs to be fixed next year. But despite that, I think this is the best main season show lineup we've had for years now.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

"Stairway to Heaven" more than enough fills the void of my favorite scene in London Rocks, the wedding scene, and the big reveal in "Hello" passes the wow test. In my opinion, the weakest scenes are the ones that look like scenes form Hersheypark or American Jukebox were just put on a fancy stage. The opening number still makes me feel like I'm going to see one of Hershey's or KD's worst, but at least they aren't over-playing that part as much as they used to.

 

[Zimmy]

in my experience nothing good ever comes from playing Stairway.

 

[Lord Robert]

The opening number still makes me feel like I'm going to see one of Hershey's or KD's worst, but at least they aren't over-playing that part as much as they used to.

I did notice that when I saw the show on July 1st, in comparison to your preview video, the cheesiness has been toned down some during the TV opening.

 

[Rhaw757]

This show seems to be less of a hit than I thought. Personally, I love the show, but everyone I've taken to see the show hasn't really cared for it. They don't hate it, but they definitely don't care to see it again.

Interestingly, InTheLoop visited the park recently and checked it out and had mostly unfavorable reviews of the show as well.

They talk about it at the 13:50 mark in case the timestamp in the link doesn't work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0xvTQb7uXo#t=13m50s

 

[CastleOSullivan]

I definitely think this show is better than London Rocks, but I do agree with them in that Britmania is still a bit low for Busch Gardens. I'm sure MDP was ecstatic to have The Globe Theatre to work with, but it is still a MDP production, which is something that I would expect from any park. Unfortunately, I think the park will have a hard time shaking the London Rocks curse. The set and technology is too expensive to abandon, so they are locked into some iteration of London Rocks indefinitely. Not as many people are complaining that it was terrible, which is good, but still not optimal. Then again, I don't think this genre is ever really optimal because so many people love Pop and Rock, but only their own kind.

The (London Rocks) curse is real.

 

[Diamond Dave]

I definitely think this show is better than London Rocks, but I do agree with them in that Britmania is still a bit low for Busch Gardens. I'm sure MDP was ecstatic to have The Globe Theatre to work with, but it is still a MDP production, which is something that I would expect from any park. Unfortunately, I think the park will have a hard time shaking the London Rocks curse. The set and technology is too expensive to abandon, so they are locked into some iteration of London Rocks indefinitely. Not as many people are complaining that it was terrible, which is good, but still not optimal. Then again, I don't think this genre is ever really optimal because so many people love Pop and Rock, but only their own kind.

The (London Rocks) curse is real.

They do a GREAT job with the set and technology during HOS and CT. I wouldn't like to see either of those changed much for at least another run.

 

[Lord Robert]

The (London Rocks) curse is real.

But very soon, that "curse" will be gone. I just know it.

 

[CastleOSullivan]

The "curse" that I am speaking of relates to the set and technology, which they won't get rid of anytime soon and how they are probably stuck with it even more so now that Britmania is popular.

Speaking of which, the cast now greets people exiting the theater similarly to Celtic Fyre. I think it's a good sign if they are not afraid to have the performers out afterwards.

The show that I saw yesterday had vast improvements to the lighting. Numerous fixtures have been added and/or are now working. There were a few issues with microphone levels which weren't set properly and new performer's costumes not being complete. Otherwise, my biggest concern was the singing. Maybe they were off just for that performance, but it's nearly impossible to fix a performer. Some were back to yelling instead of singing. Others were just late in dropping their impressions of previous artists.

It was altogether one big leap forward and one tiny step backwards. I really don't want the show to move backwards because Celtic Fyre is becoming unwatchable for me in some parts (unfortunately, you read that right), whereas Britmania and All For One give me hope that something might soon fill that void.

 

[Lord Robert]

Celtic Fyre is becoming unwatchable for me in some parts (unfortunately, you read that right)

 

[Rhaw757]

Woah now! Watch what you say about Celtic Fyre. Those are fightin' words!

I will say, I see it every night I'm in the park (at least once a week), but for whatever reason, it seems to be missing the same charm it had in past years. That being said, it's still easily my favorite show in the park.

Britmania and All For One are close behind, but those are relatively new. I've been enjoying Celtic Fyre regularly for the past 5 seasons and it's held up every season (with very minor ups and downs here and there). If those two shows can hold up like Celtic Fyre has over the years, then I'll put them in the same category, but for now, Celtic Fyre is king in my opinion.

 

[Nicole]

Can we move the Celtic Fire debate to its thread?

 

[Rhaw757]

Can we move the Celtic Fire debate to its thread?

Does it need to be moved over there if it also involves Britmania talk too? I feel like all of our posts were comparing and contrasting the three top shows in the park, not just Celtic Fyre talk.

That being said, you're the boss 'round here and I'll oblige!

 

[Lord Robert]

Maybe we could move discussion to the "2017 Show Rumors" thread to talk about this some more.

 

[Rhaw757]

Yeah, or just a general thread about shows in the park where we can discuss all the shows. The only problem I see with moving this discussion to the Celtic Fyre thread is that that the discussion we were having isn't only about Celtic Fyre so if it's off topic in this thread, it would be off topic in any other show-specific thread as well.

Just my two cents but I don't mind either way. If the mods prefer it one way, I'm not going to complain.