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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 254723" data-attributes="member: 23">Acorn Antiques: The Musical (2005) <img src="https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w780/1nQXSdAvqE31yJszhRtcl4GSobI.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />While I can’t swear to it, somewhere in the memory banks I feel quietly confident I’ve seen a version of this on-stage. Some images of Sara Crowe as Miss Babs I’ve found online have only made me more certain, as they seem very familiar indeed. All the same, I can remember little about it. And, even though I watched the DVD of the show over the last two evenings (it’s rather long, so I split up the acts), much of the detail of that has already faded in my mind. Watching the two acts separately may not be ideal, but it turns out that they’re so distinct it had next to no impact on my watching. Act One is the “behind the scenes” story, with Bo Beaumont and the other “actors” coming together to rehearse. While Act Two is the play within a play. Or the play that came out of the story in Act One. But there’s very little crossover, other than Bo’s haemorrhoids. If anything it may even play better keeping them separate, just as The Making Of Acorn Antiques was with the TV version. I very much liked the meta angle that the play was a spin-off from the TV version. Apparently the original version was criticised for the “behind the scenes” stuff by those not familiar with the source material. Off the back of this, Victoria made huge changes for the touring version by taking out a lot of the meta stuff (this revised version is probably the way I saw it). It seems a shame, but at least the original is immortalised here. The casting is pretty good. There’s no denying Sally Ann Triplett can sing, but it’s strange to see someone other than Vic playing Miss Berta. Josie Lawrence was great fun, chewing up the scenery and being arch and wicked. Neil Morrissey, too, was fine. It was a pleasant surprise that both could sing well. It would have been nice to have seen a stage version of the old couple who frequented the shop in the TV version. And Derek the handyman would have made a nice stage character as well. But given that Berta already felt off, it was better to have new characters rather than recasts. The three original series actors were terrific with their material, both dialogue and singing. Have You Met Miss Babs? was a moment of pure vamp for Celia Imrie.[MEDIA=youtube]MvZ2Ho5CEeE[/MEDIA] Duncan had perhaps the best line in the entire play when he became proactive in a volatile situation and told the women:Julie Walters was a gem as both Bo and Mrs Overall. Riotously funny, doing great bad acting and then breaking the audience’s heart during one of Mrs O’s more poignant songs. It’s impressive that she managed to stay within character(s) while singing, and her stage background shone through. [MEDIA=youtube]zgDKGi0mkuU[/MEDIA] [MEDIA=youtube]aQpjc0WH3_s[/MEDIA]I still have the bonus features to watch. I'm sure that the sight of Vic playing Mrs O. will be a little surreal as well. </blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?