Acorn Antiques - The Musical [DVD]

IF YOU ARE A FAN OF ACORN ANTIQUES THEN THIS IS A GREAT SHOW.WRITTEN BY VICTORIA WOOD AND IS LIKE THE SKETCHES JUST WITH LOTS OF VERY GOOD SINGING AND DANCING.EVERYBODY IS VERY GOOD AND CELIA IMRIE IS EXTREMELY GOOD, IT IS VERY FUNNY AND THE SONGS ARE GOOD TOO. IT IS FILMED DURING AN ACTUAL PERFORMANCE OF THE STAGE SHOW,SO IF YOU LIKE COMIC MUSICALS THEN THIS FOR YOU.

When I saw this show in the West End last year I was worried that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. However I was not disappointed. I was lucky enough to see Julie Walters don her Mrs Overall pinny and since then I have regularly scoured Amazon to see if the show has been launched on DVD or the soundtrack on CD.I have to say that this DVD has been well worth the long wait and, whilst there aren't that many extras the musical itself has been excellently recorded. To be fair it takes a little while to really get going and set the scene, but when the "West End Musical" version of Acorn Antiques kicks in there is no stopping the cast. The pastiches of Sondheim and Fosse musical numbers, amongst others, are hilarious and very clever. We are also given a rare glimpse into life in Manchesterford and meet the other shop keepers and customers in the street.The actors familiar from the TV shows are uniformly excellent as are the rest of the cast. The actress who takes over the role of Miss Berta from Victoria Wood (Sally Ann Triplett?) is wonderful and makes the character her own! The star of the show is without doubt Mrs Overall played by Julie Walters who sings a particularly hilarious (and surprisingly foul mouthed!) song dedicated to different types of biscuits. She is also a surprisingly good dancer considering her piles (Mrs O's that is not Julie Walters’).As I say, there aren't that many extra's to this DVD but one thing we do get is the chance to see Victoria Wood's crack at the role of Mrs Overall (she took over on Julie Walters' bingo nights apparently!). Taking over from Walters was a brave thing for Victoria Wood to do and she makes a pretty good job of it. Had we never seen Julie Walters in the role before, Victoria Wood would have made it her own but, as we have, she does suffer in comparison.However, whether she is on stage or not, this is ultimately Victoria Wood's show having created the characters, written the music and the words, and she should be congratulated for very successfully transferring the brief TV sketches into a full blown musical and creating an endearingly eccentric portrayal of a very British shop – Acorn Antiques.

Having seen this show on its national tour, I was really looking forward to the DVD arriving. Clearly, by the time the show hit the road, some rather dead, dry wood had been pruned away from the start. All that rehearsal business was painfully tedious, and I think we only managed 3 minutes before searching forward to find the start of the "show within the show" (scene 7 on the disc).At this point, it all improved immeasurably. There are some excellent songs (although I was sorry to miss "Tip Top Tap", which remains in the opening wilderness), all very clever pastiches, with some brilliant lyrics. My favourite song is "Have Some Tea" - a real tour de force for Julie Walters.The extras on the disc include excerpts with Victoria Wood playing Mrs O.. They are fine when approached on their own terms, but if, like me, you grew up with Julie Walters' interpretation of the character, you may well find them a disappointment.

Very funny

A Histerical musical comedy by the Late, Great Victoria Wood what a loss to the world of comedy, but I wouldn't describe this as a proper musical as there are not many songs in it, so i feel its a comedy play with music but that said all of Victoria Woods Lyrics and Music are , sublime, satrical and heart wrenching. Duncan Preston, Julie Walters and Celia Imrie all reprise their original roles from the sketches, and surprisingly they all have amazing, singing voices and with Sally Ann Triplett as Miss Berta makes for an unforgetable night at the theatre, Sir Trevor Nunn did an amazing job as director but he always does the only shame is that it closed after a 3 month run, but it is hard to chose a favourite song but Macaroons will always top the rest, Make Sure you check out the Bonus Bonaza to see the Wonderful Master of comedy having a crack at Mrs O the 2 shows a week Julie walters had other things to do she is a wonderful Mrs O you can tell, when she was writing the lyrics etc she knew how she wanted to Portray her, her Macaroons is not as comically funny as walters who adds little bits of dialogue to get the crowd involved, woods mrs o makes you laugh more in the instrumental bits of the song and her Birmingham accent is better and her voice is slightly more refined.Saying all of this though is a tough call they are both wonderful, it's a shame she didnt write more musicals she had a knack for musical comedy not seen since the Witches of Eastwick.R.I.P Victoria Wood you are sorely missed you were a one in a million Comic legend!!!!!!!!

There were many really good moments as you would expect but I had hoped that the standard would have remained high throughout but I was left disappointed. Still worth seeing.

I brought this DVD 2 days ago & have to say it is brilliant.The cast are amazing & play there parts very well.Julie Walters deserves an ocar she is a national treasure.For those who have seen her as the mild mannered Mrs Weasley in the Harry Potter films be warned your in for a shock when she sings "macaroons"a delightful song about biscuits with a rude line about Ozzy Osbourne.Almost 3 hours of pure fun.Well worth the money I paid for it.

Macaroons.

I watched this with friends and we really enjoyed it. The story is a bit odd as it changes half way through but this just adds to the fun.Highly recommended for a light entertaining evening.

Generally love the work of Victoria Wood, but found the pacing on this one a bit on the slow side.