Astonishing

[alija1960]

Does anyone know if the act Astonishing with Stephen Mulhern will be on Aurora during the summer 

[pete14]

I can’t answer your question but I believe that Astonishing is a stage production that Stephen Mulhearn was involved in writing and developing which is performed by the usual Headliners performers. Mulhearn will almost certainly not be appearing.

[Spike11]

Just been posted on Facebook that: ”Astonishing show is coming to Oceana on 16th April, Aurora on 12th May and Arcadia on 19th July this year and then be on every cruise on all six ships”. This seems like good news to be as we really enjoyed this show on Britannia last year. A video wall is integral to the show, so presumably this means that video walls are going to be fitted to the smaller ships.

[AndyMichelle]

2 hours ago, Spike11 said:

Just been posted on Facebook that: ”Astonishing show is coming to Oceana on 16th April, Aurora on 12th May and Arcadia on 19th July this year and then be on every cruise on all six ships”. This seems like good news to be as we really enjoyed this show on Britannia last year. A video wall is integral to the show, so presumably this means that video walls are going to be fitted to the smaller ships.

Funny how tastes differ, we also saw this on Britannia and thought it was absolute rubbish....

We are on Aurora in June, I think we will be in Carmens that night having a boogie...

Andy

[Cristaltips]

Totally agree. Can’t understand what all the hype is about. Good job we’re all different!!

[Monorail Orange]

I've not seen it, so I can't dismiss it completely, but there's something about this show (ie hype) that just irks me.

 

But hey, each to their own. And I'm glad for those who do like it who will be able to experience it on other ships.

[Spike11]

27 minutes ago, Monorail Orange said:

I've not seen it, so I can't dismiss it completely, but there's something about this show (ie hype) that just irks me.

 

But hey, each to their own. And I'm glad for those who do like it who will be able to experience it on other ships.

Hope you get chance to give this show a go. We liked the ingenuity that went into the production and the also more modern music - makes a change from the headliners trudging round the stage singing creaking show tunes! I’m just glad that P&O are prepared to try something a bit different. However, seeing a post about this on Facebook it does seem that the show is a bit marmite.

[terrierjohn]

2 hours ago, Spike11 said:

Hope you get chance to give this show a go. We liked the ingenuity that went into the production and the also more modern music - makes a change from the headliners trudging round the stage singing creaking show tunes! I’m just glad that P&O are prepared to try something a bit different. However, seeing a post about this on Facebook it does seem that the show is a bit marmite.

We have seen it and would not bother going back to see it again, unlike some creaking show tunes performed by the headliners, which I can enjoy hearing many times.

[Castle25]

Biggest pile of rubbish i ever did see(Azura Dec 18).  The card 'trick' is just logic and not a trick at all.....

[Selbourne]

As we are on Aurora again soon, I was delighted to read that a new style of show will be making an appearance, especially as we find that most P&O 'entertainment' is stuck in a '1960's holiday camp time warp'. However, having read the reviews from some of you who have seen this show, I have reverted to my miserable self...

[Dwalkerdave]

Probably best to expect it to be Rubbish and it might just make you think it was OK when you actually see it.

 

Very big budget so it could be on the ships for a while unfortunately.

[swaddy]

It made a change. It was interesting working out how the illusions happened. Don't think I would watch it again as I've seen it once. 

[Monorail Orange]

22 hours ago, Spike11 said:

Hope you get chance to give this show a go. We liked the ingenuity that went into the production and the also more modern music - makes a change from the headliners trudging round the stage singing creaking show tunes! I’m just glad that P&O are prepared to try something a bit different. However, seeing a post about this on Facebook it does seem that the show is a bit marmite.

Well I'll probably give it a try.

I don't mind the "show tunes" however I can see where you're coming from - they can seem repetative.

 

That's why I liked the two new Headliners shows they had on the Arcadia last year (didn't have them this year). They used musical numbers but made it fit into a narrative. A nice change of pace to the 'revue' shows.

 

That being said, I'm very wary of new shows that try to be trendy for trendy sake. Add to the fact that I'm not a fan of either of the celebrity creators connected with the show.

 

Like I said, I'll probably give it a try and I'll keep an open mind.

[Clodia]

Saw it on Ventura last Autumn and liked it; it's different. The card trick annoyed me because it was wasteful with lots of litter left on the theatre floor. Don't know whether it would bear repeat viewing.

[Cristaltips]

I think that once you’ve seen it, you’re done. Can’t imagine you’d want to see it twice.

[terrierjohn]

11 minutes ago, Cristaltips said:

I think that once you’ve seen it, you’re done. Can’t imagine you’d want to see it twice.

Which for cruise ship entertainment, with lots of regular cruisers is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. 

[miniyorkie]

45 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Which for cruise ship entertainment, with lots of regular cruisers is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. 

Agree completely. I appreciate that this show may be expensive to produce and therefore P/O wish to maximize the costs involved,  however we saw it on Brittania last year, again on Azura 2 weeks ago and according to above  posts it will be shown on Oceana in October for our next cruise. We will give it a miss this time, although for anyone who has not seen it I think it's worth seeing once.

[branddad]

Will it be on Britannia June 15 sailing

[Spike11]

7 hours ago, branddad said:

Will it be on Britannia June 15 sailing

Should be. It started on Britannia last May.

[lexussteve2016]

We had Gareth Gates on the Britannia but it was already fully booked at the Limelight Club months before....tbh probably wouldn’t have paid the £35.00pp cover charge anyway.

 

[Jim Cox]

On 3/28/2019 at 8:07 AM, Clodia said:

Saw it on Ventura last Autumn and liked it; it's different. The card trick annoyed me because it was wasteful with lots of litter left on the theatre floor. Don't know whether it would bear repeat viewing.

It wouldn't! It seemed to impress some people, but it was based solely on pure mathematical logic. No magic (obviously) but cold logic. And, as you say, quite a mess to clear up.

 

Still - better than popcorn!

[terrierjohn]

On 3/26/2019 at 10:40 PM, terrierjohn said:

We have seen it and would not bother going back to see it again, unlike some creaking show tunes performed by the headliners, which I can enjoy hearing many times.

We watched this again on Aurora and we were pleasantly surprised at how the Aurora headliners performed it so much better than when we first saw it on Azura. I agree the card trick is simple mathematical logic, but the standard of singing and dancing by the Aurora headliners made rest of the snow very watchable.

[jeanlyon]

We were there for 20 minutes with our fingers in our ears.  It was so loud, I felt sick.  Some of it was good,, but just couldn't stay.

[Selbourne]

We also watched it on Sunday night at the premiere on Aurora, with Stephen Mulhern and Johnathon Wilkes (co-producers) in attendance (as they do all premieres). It premieres on Arcadia in 2 weeks time. 

 

Whilst we didn’t feel that it lived up to the hype, being about the same as most magic shows that you’d see on TV, we thought that it was a welcome change from the usual outdated P&O entertainment which is firmly planted in the 1970’s variety show genre (stand up comedians, ventriloquists, mediocre singers etc). The magic was clever but nothing that we haven’t seen before. The card trick is just pure maths and it’s obvious from the start what the outcome will be, so the only thing that would be astonishing would be if the last two cards didn’t match! Visually, the show was pretty good. 

 

We didn’t feel that the singing and dancing always went together with the magic, but the Headliners on this cruise were pretty good, especially the girls. The show we enjoyed most was Applause, particularly the Les Miserables segment in the second half. Probably the best of the ‘singing and dancing’ show that we have seen as it didn’t have a pathetic storyline and just concentrated on good singing. 

 

 Have to say that we have never found excessive noise to be an issue, including last week. The noise that does irritate the hell out of me comes from fellow passengers who often arrive late once the show has started and then have full volume conversations about where they are going to sit (given that so many people stupidly sit at the end of a row blocking access to loads of free seats), plus those who are incapable of watching any show without having to make comments throughout to their partners. Downright irritating and disrespectful to the performers and other passengers. 

 

In summary, a nice change and worth seeing once, but if they keep it going unchanged for many years (like they do the song and dance shows) then I’m not sure that regular cruisers would want to see it over and over again. 

Edited May 14, 2019 by Selbourne

[jeanlyon]

Agree about Applause, it was really terrific.  My ex pro singer friend who cruises with us said it was a West End performance. Praise indeed.