Another week of big openings ahead means I won’t be getting to everything even if I wanted to (and right now I am still trying to take it easier than I used to), approved let alone playing catch-up on what I missed when I was incapacitated after my recent double rounds of surgery! ??Here are the main openings of the week to look out for, search followed by my current Top 10.
MAIN THEATRE OPENINGS OF THE WEEK
In London:
- Bull – Mike Bartlett’s 2013 play about Darwinian office bullying returns to the Young Vic’s Maria Studio, where it was previously seen last January, to re-open on December 15, with a cast that comprises Max Bennett, Susannah Fielding, Nigel Lindsay and Marc Wootton.
- The Lorax – Director Max Webster and choreographer Drew McOnie stage David Greig’s adaptation of Dr Seuss’s classic tale, opening on December 16, at the Old Vic, with a cast that includes Simon Lipkin, Simon Paisley Day and Melanie Le Barrie.
- The Dazzle — Andrew Scott (“Sherlock”, “Spectre”) returns to the London stage in the British premiere of Richard Greenberg’s off-Broadway play The Dazzle, opening December 15 at Found 111, a new venue recently created on the site of the old Central St. Martins School of Art on Charing Cross Road.
Beyond London:
Show Boat —Crucible Theatre, Sheffield — Daniel Evans (recently announced to take over as artistic director at Chichester, and who was interviewed about it in The Times as I reported here) directs Michael Xavier, Gina Beck (both pictured left) and Rebecca Trehearn in Kern and Hammerstein’s 1927 Broadway classic, opening on December 16.
MY TOP TOP TEN SHOWS THIS WEEK
1. Funny Girl. Owing to my recent double round surgery (my hip replacement and its subsequent dislocation), I had to miss the opening of the first London revival of Jule Styne’s 1964 Broadway musical since Barbra Streisand reprised her Broadway role as Fanny Brice in the transfer of the original production in the West End. So I couldn’t wait to catch up with it at the Menier Chocolate Factory, and just did. Sheridan Smith, inheriting Streisand’s role of Fanny Brice – the 1920s vaudeville superstar —is a marvel.
As I wrote in my weekly diary of a theatre addict here yesterday, “When Sheridan sings “I’m the greatest star,” Fanny Brice’s early desperate cry of self-belief that you can tell she doesn’t quite fully believe in herself, she could be sing her personal autobiography: she has a terrific talent that has to overcome her own insecurity, that she reveals in her extremes of vulnerability and punch onstage. When I tweeted about how heartbreakingly wonderful she is, one follower called @BrightonLock concurred, and added that she’s “so emotional that I just hope she’s keeping something back for herself.” Website: for Menier Chocolate Factory https://www.menierchocolatefactory.com/; for West End transfer to Savoy http://www.funnygirlthemusical.co.uk/
2. Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Never mind the slew of panto versions of JM Barrie’s story usually available at this time of year, including one at Wimbledon starring Marcus Brigstocke; the one to see is Mischief Theatre’s version that defiantly insists it is not a pantomime. 
But it is a farce — and a riotous one — in which, instead of Peter Pan’s traditional declaration that to die would be an awfully big adventure, it is more of an awfully big misadventure. Its a cliche to say you were crying with laughter, but I really was. Not to mention surprised that the cast weren’t dislocating their own hips in the process. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://www.theplaythatgoeswrong.com/peter-pan-goes-wrong
3. Bend it Like Beckham. My favourite new musical of the year — Howard Goodall’s glorious music soars in this stage version of the 2002 film, booking at the Phoenix Theatre to March 5. Jamie Muscato joins the cast from Dec. 14, to replace Jamie Campbell Bower. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://benditlikebeckhamthemusical.co.uk/
4. Close to You. Joyful concert revue of Burt Bacharach classics, mashed up and re-made for now, now extended at the Criterion to Feb. 14. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://closetoyoulondon.com/
5. In the Heights. 
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2008 Tony winning Broadway musical returns to London in the exhilarating production first seen at Southwark Playhouse last year, and now at the new Olivier-eligible King’s Cross Theatre, where it is currently booking to April 10. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://intheheightslondon.com/
6. Derren Brown — Miracle. The amazing Derren Brown with a show that I described in my review for The Stage here as “truly gobsmacking”. Running at the Palace Theatre to January 16, then resuming regional tour. Website: http://derrenbrown.co.uk/on-stage
7. Mr Foote’s Other Leg. Simon Russell Beale, Dervla Kirwan and Joseph Millson in Ian Kelly’s marvellous theatrical play, first seen at Hampstead Theatre where I reviewed it for London Theatre Guide here, now transferred to the Haymarket, where it is appropriately partly set, and where it is running to January 23. Website: http://www.mrfootesotherleg.com/
8. Farinelli and the King. Mark Rylance stars as the King in the transfer of his wife Claire van Kampen’s play, first seen at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, to the West End’s Duke of York’s. See my interview with Rylance for The Stage here. Website: http://farinellitheplay.com/
9. The Winter’s Tale. Kenneth Branagh leads the opening production of his new theatre company’s year-long residency at the Garrick, running to January 16. Also in the cast are Judi Dench, Michael Pennington, Hadley Fraser, Tom Bateman, John Dagleish, Adam Garcia and Jessie Buckley. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://www.branaghtheatre.com/the-winters-tale/
10. Bull. 
Mike Bartlett’s play re-opens at the Young Vic this week with a brand-new cast who I’ve not seen yet, but I can’t wait to see this short but hardly sweet, blistering and bruising play again about the brutal competition between three office workers to outwit each other to keep their jobs, running to January 16. Website: http://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/bull
Another week of big openings ahead means I won’t be getting to everything even if I wanted to (and right now I am still trying to take it easier than I used to), stuff let alone playing catch-up on what I missed when I was incapacitated after my recent double rounds of surgery! ??Here are the main openings of the week to look out for, treat followed by my current Top 10.
MAIN THEATRE OPENINGS OF THE WEEK
In London:
- Bull – Mike Bartlett’s 2013 play about Darwinian office bullying returns to the Young Vic’s Maria Studio, sales where it was previously seen last January, to re-open on December 15, with a cast that comprises Max Bennett, Susannah Fielding, Nigel Lindsay and Marc Wootton.
- The Lorax – Director Max Webster and choreographer Drew McOnie stage David Greig’s adaptation of Dr Seuss’s classic tale, opening on December 16, at the Old Vic, with a cast that includes Simon Lipkin, Simon Paisley Day and Melanie Le Barrie.
- The Dazzle — Andrew Scott (“Sherlock”, “Spectre”) returns to the London stage in the British premiere of Richard Greenberg’s off-Broadway play The Dazzle, opening December 15 at Found 111, a new venue recently created on the site of the old Central St. Martins School of Art on Charing Cross Road.
Beyond London:
Show Boat —Crucible Theatre, Sheffield — Daniel Evans (recently announced to take over as artistic director at Chichester, and who was interviewed about it in The Times as I reported here) directs Michael Xavier, Gina Beck (both pictured left) and Rebecca Trehearn in Kern and Hammerstein’s 1927 Broadway classic, opening on December 16.
MY TOP TOP TEN SHOWS THIS WEEK
1. Funny Girl. Owing to my recent double round surgery (my hip replacement and its subsequent dislocation), I had to miss the opening of the first London revival of Jule Styne’s 1964 Broadway musical since Barbra Streisand reprised her Broadway role as Fanny Brice in the transfer of the original production in the West End. So I couldn’t wait to catch up with it at the Menier Chocolate Factory, and just did. Sheridan Smith, inheriting Streisand’s role of Fanny Brice – the 1920s vaudeville superstar —is a marvel.
As I wrote in my weekly diary of a theatre addict here yesterday, “When Sheridan sings “I’m the greatest star,” Fanny Brice’s early desperate cry of self-belief that you can tell she doesn’t quite fully believe in herself, she could be sing her personal autobiography: she has a terrific talent that has to overcome her own insecurity, that she reveals in her extremes of vulnerability and punch onstage. When I tweeted about how heartbreakingly wonderful she is, one follower called @BrightonLock concurred, and added that she’s “so emotional that I just hope she’s keeping something back for herself.” Website: for Menier Chocolate Factory https://www.menierchocolatefactory.com/; for West End transfer to Savoy http://www.funnygirlthemusical.co.uk/
2. Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Never mind the slew of panto versions of JM Barrie’s story usually available at this time of year, including one at Wimbledon starring Marcus Brigstocke; the one to see is Mischief Theatre’s version that defiantly insists it is not a pantomime. But it is a farce — and a riotous one — in which, instead of Peter Pan’s traditional declaration that to die would be an awfully big adventure, it is more of an awfully big misadventure. Its a cliche to say you were crying with laughter, but I really was. Not to mention surprised that the cast weren’t dislocating their own hips in the process. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://www.theplaythatgoeswrong.com/peter-pan-goes-wrong
3. Bend it Like Beckham. My favourite new musical of the year — Howard Goodall’s glorious music soars in this stage version of the 2002 film, booking at the Phoenix Theatre to March 5. Jamie Muscato joins the cast from Dec. 14, to replace Jamie Campbell Bower. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://benditlikebeckhamthemusical.co.uk/
4. Close to You. Joyful concert revue of Burt Bacharach classics, mashed up and re-made for now, now extended at the Criterion to Feb. 14. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://closetoyoulondon.com/
5. In the Heights. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2008 Tony winning Broadway musical returns to London in the exhilarating production first seen at Southwark Playhouse last year, and now at the new Olivier-eligible King’s Cross Theatre, where it is currently booking to April 10. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://intheheightslondon.com/
6. Derren Brown — Miracle. The amazing Derren Brown with a show that I described in my review for The Stage here as “truly gobsmacking”. Running at the Palace Theatre to January 16, then resuming regional tour. Website: http://derrenbrown.co.uk/on-stage
7. Mr Foote’s Other Leg. Simon Russell Beale, Dervla Kirwan and Joseph Millson in Ian Kelly’s marvellous theatrical play, first seen at Hampstead Theatre where I reviewed it for London Theatre Guide here, now transferred to the Haymarket, where it is appropriately partly set, and where it is running to January 23. Website: http://www.mrfootesotherleg.com/
8. The Winter’s Tale. Kenneth Branagh leads the opening production of his new theatre company’s year-long residency at the Garrick, running to January 16. Also in the cast are Judi Dench, Michael Pennington, Hadley Fraser, Tom Bateman, John Dagleish, Adam Garcia and Jessie Buckley. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://www.branaghtheatre.com/the-winters-tale/
9. Guys and Dolls. My absolutely favourite musical of all time, bar none! Frank Loesser’s masterpiece of musical theatre construction and great, great songs, is revived in a transfer of Chichester Festival Theatre’s summer 2014 production to the Savoy, where it is now previewing prior to an offiical opening on January 6. Website: http://www.guysanddollsthemusical.co.uk/
10. Bull. Mike Bartlett’s play re-opens at the Young Vic this week with a brand-new cast who I’ve not seen yet, but I can’t wait to see this short but hardly sweet, blistering and bruising play again about the brutal competition between three office workers to outwit each other to keep their jobs, running to January 16. Website: http://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/bull
Another week of big openings ahead means I won’t be getting to everything even if I wanted to (and right now I am still trying to take it easier than I used to), see let alone playing catch-up on what I missed when I was incapacitated after my recent double rounds of surgery! ??Here are the main openings of the week to look out for, generic followed by my current Top 10.
MAIN THEATRE OPENINGS OF THE WEEK
In London:
- Bull – Mike Bartlett’s 2013 play about Darwinian office bullying returns to the Young Vic’s Maria Studio, here where it was previously seen last January, to re-open on December 15, with a cast that comprises Max Bennett, Susannah Fielding, Nigel Lindsay and Marc Wootton.
- The Lorax – Director Max Webster and choreographer Drew McOnie stage David Greig’s adaptation of Dr Seuss’s classic tale, opening on December 16, at the Old Vic, with a cast that includes Simon Lipkin, Simon Paisley Day and Melanie Le Barrie.
- The Dazzle — Andrew Scott (“Sherlock”, “Spectre”) returns to the London stage in the British premiere of Richard Greenberg’s off-Broadway play The Dazzle, opening December 15 at Found 111, a new venue recently created on the site of the old Central St. Martins School of Art on Charing Cross Road.
Beyond London:
Show Boat —Crucible Theatre, Sheffield — Daniel Evans (recently announced to take over as artistic director at Chichester, and who was interviewed about it in The Times as I reported here) directs Michael Xavier, Gina Beck (both pictured left) and Rebecca Trehearn in Kern and Hammerstein’s 1927 Broadway classic, opening on December 16.
MY TOP TOP TEN SHOWS THIS WEEK
1. Funny Girl. Owing to my recent double round surgery (my hip replacement and its subsequent dislocation), I had to miss the opening of the first London revival of Jule Styne’s 1964 Broadway musical since Barbra Streisand reprised her Broadway role as Fanny Brice in the transfer of the original production in the West End. So I couldn’t wait to catch up with it at the Menier Chocolate Factory, and just did. Sheridan Smith, inheriting Streisand’s role of Fanny Brice – the 1920s vaudeville superstar —is a marvel.
As I wrote in my weekly diary of a theatre addict here yesterday, “When Sheridan sings “I’m the greatest star,” Fanny Brice’s early desperate cry of self-belief that you can tell she doesn’t quite fully believe in herself, she could be sing her personal autobiography: she has a terrific talent that has to overcome her own insecurity, that she reveals in her extremes of vulnerability and punch onstage. When I tweeted about how heartbreakingly wonderful she is, one follower called @BrightonLock concurred, and added that she’s “so emotional that I just hope she’s keeping something back for herself.” Website: for Menier Chocolate Factory https://www.menierchocolatefactory.com/; for West End transfer to Savoy http://www.funnygirlthemusical.co.uk/
2. Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Never mind the slew of panto versions of JM Barrie’s story usually available at this time of year, including one at Wimbledon starring Marcus Brigstocke; the one to see is Mischief Theatre’s version that defiantly insists it is not a pantomime. But it is a farce — and a riotous one — in which, instead of Peter Pan’s traditional declaration that to die would be an awfully big adventure, it is more of an awfully big misadventure. Its a cliche to say you were crying with laughter, but I really was. Not to mention surprised that the cast weren’t dislocating their own hips in the process. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://www.theplaythatgoeswrong.com/peter-pan-goes-wrong
3. Bend it Like Beckham. My favourite new musical of the year — Howard Goodall’s glorious music soars in this stage version of the 2002 film, booking at the Phoenix Theatre to March 5. Jamie Muscato joins the cast from Dec. 14, to replace Jamie Campbell Bower. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://benditlikebeckhamthemusical.co.uk/
4. Close to You. Joyful concert revue of Burt Bacharach classics, mashed up and re-made for now, now extended at the Criterion to Feb. 14. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://closetoyoulondon.com/
5. In the Heights. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s 2008 Tony winning Broadway musical returns to London in the exhilarating production first seen at Southwark Playhouse last year, and now at the new Olivier-eligible King’s Cross Theatre, where it is currently booking to April 10. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://intheheightslondon.com/
6. Derren Brown — Miracle. The amazing Derren Brown with a show that I described in my review for The Stage here as “truly gobsmacking”. Running at the Palace Theatre to January 16, then resuming regional tour. Website: http://derrenbrown.co.uk/on-stage
7. Mr Foote’s Other Leg. Simon Russell Beale, Dervla Kirwan and Joseph Millson in Ian Kelly’s marvellous theatrical play, first seen at Hampstead Theatre where I reviewed it for London Theatre Guide here, now transferred to the Haymarket, where it is appropriately partly set, and where it is running to January 23. Website: http://www.mrfootesotherleg.com/
8. The Winter’s Tale. Kenneth Branagh leads the opening production of his new theatre company’s year-long residency at the Garrick, running to January 16. Also in the cast are Judi Dench, Michael Pennington, Hadley Fraser, Tom Bateman, John Dagleish, Adam Garcia and Jessie Buckley. See my review for The Stage here. Website: http://www.branaghtheatre.com/the-winters-tale/
9. Guys and Dolls. My absolutely favourite musical of all time, bar none! (see my Top 10 Favourite Musicals list for The Stage here). Frank Loesser’s masterpiece of musical theatre construction and great, great songs, is revived in a transfer of Chichester Festival Theatre’s summer 2014 production to the Savoy, where it is now previewing prior to an offiical opening on January 6. Website: http://www.guysanddollsthemusical.co.uk/
10. Bull. Mike Bartlett’s play re-opens at the Young Vic this week with a brand-new cast who I’ve not seen yet, but I can’t wait to see this short but hardly sweet, blistering and bruising play again about the brutal competition between three office workers to outwit each other to keep their jobs, running to January 16. Website: http://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/bull
CYNTHIA ERIVO BECOMES AN OVERNIGHT STAR
London’s Menier Chocolate Factory have just scored their fourth Broadway hit: after previously transferring Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George and A Little Night Music, sickness and Jerry Herman’s La Cage Aux Folles, to Broadway after runs in the West End first, this time they’ve by-passed the West End to go direct to Broadway with The Color Purple and take coals to Newcastle once again, returning a musical ‘home’ whose original production only closed 7 years ago.
And even if the headline star is Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson, absolutely universal raves greeted the Broadway revival of our very own Cynthia Erivo. (But can we have her back, please, when you’re done with her?)
She is variously described as “an incandescent new star” (New York Times), “an absolute marvel” (Associated Press), “transcendent, indelibly present, lucid, unflinching and rigorously honest, profoundly moving, emotionally raw, affecting, the real deal, not to be missed” (Hollywood Reporter),”a performance of magnetic directness and simplicity” (Time Out New York), “the tiny point of dynamite” (Variety), “spectacular” (New York Daily News), “,masterful” (vulture.com), “remarkable, astonishing, a star-making moment” (Entertainment Weekly) and “shimmering” (Financial Times).
According to Ben Brantley in the New York Times, “The greatest joy of all, at least for longtime believers in theater mythology, is the ascendancy of Ms. Erivo, who was very good when I saw her in London but is even better here. Celie undergoes a drastic metamorphosis from battered, invisible wife to determined, self-reliant businesswoman. Ms. Erivo escorts us through these transformations with a subtle but tensile performance that parallels her character’s evolution. Like the rest of the show, she never oversells herself; she asks us politely but compellingly to listen, even when she speaks in a whisper. By the production’s end, Celie has developed a muscular voice that reaches to heaven, and Ms. Erivo has emerged as a bona fide star who lifts the audience to its feet.”
In NJ.com, Christopher Kelly, writes, “The famous name attached to the revival of the musical version of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is Jennifer Hudson. Yet Hudson is not the performer you’ll leave this show talking about. This Color Purple instead belongs to the virtually unknown British actress Cynthia Erivo, who as Celie gives one of those galvanizing, star-is-born performances of which Broadway dreams are made.”
In Newsday, Linda Winer writes, “Genuine showstoppers rarely happen in the musical theater, especially in the middle of an act. But when they do, something happens — maybe to the air pressure in the lungs of theatergoers — which seems to buoy whole groups of disparate audiences to their feet. It happened at a recent preview of The Color Purple and, chances are, it’s happening every night. Edging toward the finale of the show, Cynthia Erivo, a British actress in her thrilling Broadway debut, lays into a song (“I may be poor, I may be black, I may be ugly, but I’m here!”) full of defiant realization for her character Celie after a lifetime of insult, drudgery and self-sacrifice.”
And finally in the Chicago Tribune, Chris Jones comments, “Hudson is not the performer who brings down the house, although I suspect that is just fine with Hudson. That work belongs to Cynthia Erivo, the British actress playing — actually, inhabiting is the better word — the role of Celie On Saturday night, the show was stopped for ovations on several occasions. The Color Purple probably is back on Broadway in no small measure because of Erivo, and she is reason enough.”
WHAT WENT WRONG WITH CHINA DOLL?
In last week’s New York column, I offered a digest of some of the (mostly negative) reviews of China Doll. I quoted Ben Brantley, talking about the negative atmosphere surrounding the show’s opening:
Even with weekly grosses exceeding a million dollars, China Doll, which is directed by Pam MacKinnon (a thankless task), soon found itself being circled by theater vultures for whom the scent of disaster is an aphrodisiac. The word was that Mr. Pacino couldn’t remember his lines and that audience members were walking out in baffled annoyance at intermission. The show’s original opening night was delayed by about two weeks, and Mr. Mamet was said to be rewriting copiously.
According to the New York Post’s Michael Riedel, who was the public source for much of that narrative, in the first place the show “turned out to be this year’s Moose Murders, the 1983 flop by which all Broadway catastrophes are judged… the stage equivalent of a car crash.”
In a feature that was published in the New York Post on December 13, he asks what went wrong. He is particularly critical of director Pam Macinnon, whom he quotes “insiders” saying has been ineffectual from the beginning:
“She’s nice, but she’s incredibly literal and unimaginative,” one person says. “And she can’t handle stars. She cedes control to them, and they run right over her.”
Around Broadway her nickname is “The Elk” — because “she’s too big for the room and she runs around banging her antlers into the wall,” a source says.
She was extremely deferential to Pacino during rehearsals. Someone close to the show explains: “She’d say, ‘How about if you tried this, Al?’ And he’d say, ‘Well, I have to look at this newspaper over here, so I’m going to do it this way.’ And she’d say, ‘Fine.’ He really directed himself.”
The one time MacKinnon pressed a point, Pacino barked, “I’m not your f?-?-?king puppet, Pam!”
Riedel also reports that the show is having a physical toll on Pacino, and finds the two-show day on Saturday exhausting… and hair-raising. “Lately he’s been chauffeured to his house in Nyack between shows. Getting back in time for the evening performance is hair-raising because of the traffic. Last Saturday, Pacino jumped out of the car at 49th Street and ran down to the theater on 45th Street. He walked through the stage door at five minutes after the 8 p.m. start time.”
JOSH GROBAN TO MAKE BROADWAY DEBUT
The easy-listening recording star Josh Groban is to make his Broadway debut in the transfer of the off-Broadway hit Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, an adaptation of a section of Tolstoy’s War and Peace, that will open in New York next September after a run that opens tomorrow (December 16) at Cambridge’s American Repertory Theatre, which is fast becoming the go-to place for Broadway shows to originate. (Pippin started there; so did Sara Bareilles’ Waitress which opens in April).
His latest album Stages is comprised of covers of show tunes, and he has previously starred (brilliantly) as the Russian chess player Anatoly Sergievsky in a 2008 London concert production of Chess at the Royal Albert Hall that was filmed (watch him singing ‘Anthem’ here. But this is the first time he’s doing a proper run of a musical, albeit an unconventional one.
According to an interview with Groan in the New York Times, he’s fielded many offers to appear on Broadway before, but chose this one: “For a first time doing it, I wanted it to be something that was a little less expected, and I wanted it to be a show and a character that forced me to get a little bit out of my comfort zone and do something that people haven’t seen before. To have the opportunity and freedom to take off the hat of ‘me,’ and to dive into a character, is something I think will be very freeing, and very fun.”
FUN HOME RECOUPS ON BROADWAY?
It might have seemed a long shot when Fun Home, a musical about a young lesbian’s troubled relationship with her gay father, transferred from Off-Broadway’s Public Theatre to Broadway’s Circle in the Square this year, but then it went on to (unexpectedly) win this year’s Tony Award for Best Musical — I thought it would go to the more commercially accessible An American In Paris — and it has now announced that it has recouped its transfer costs.
In an interview in the New York Times, Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theatre, commented, “The American public continues to impress with how much they’re willing to embrace the new — every time we thought we had reached the limit for the audience base, it turned out we hadn’t. This also means that we have turned a corner on what it means to be gay in the United States. Angels in America was the first time I could see mass audiences identifying with gay characters — Prior Walter was an Everyman — and that’s what Alison is. She’s a lesbian, and one never forgets that, but she’s a lesbian who speaks for all of us.”
The New York Times points out that the show “seems to have benefited from good timing, having arrived on Broadway just before same-sex marriage became legal nationwide and when sexuality is an increasingly mainstream theme in popular culture.” Hear hear and bravo to that!