"Bullets Over Broadway" Previews- Page 15

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 3:11pm

What exactly did they cut? Production numbers? book scenes?

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 3:31pm

"... I was in the second row of the balcony. If they're going to sell seats there, they need to make sure to stage the production farther upstage. They were so far downstage (with room to spare upstage) that I couldn't see a lot of what they were doing without trying to lean forward"

I think you have your terms reversed. Downstage is the part of the stage closest to the audience. Upstage is the part farthest away from them, and thus the area that might be an obstructed for those in the balcony.

Stroman definitely considered that factor in The Producers. I'm sorry to hear that it seems that is not the case here.

[Up In One]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 4:29pm

"The running time has been cut down to a consistent 2:25."

Hard to believe they got it down from 2:45/2:50 through pacing alone, were any songs cut? Anyone have any intel?

Song list from two weeks ago...

Act One
Tiger rag
Gee baby Aint I Good To You
Bless My Naughty Sweetie Gives To me
Taint a Fit Night Out for Man or Beast
The Hot Dog Song
Gee Baby Ain't I Good To You - reprise
They Go Wild, Simply Wild Over Me
Up A lazy River
I'm Sitting On Top Of The World
Lets Misbehave
Theres A Broken Heart for Every Light On Broadway
(Ill be Glad When Your Dead) You Rascal You
Taint Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do
Runnin Wild

Act Two
Theres A New Day Comin
There'll Be Some Changes Made
I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle
Good Old New York
Up A Lazy River - reprise
I've Found A New Baby
The Panic Is On
Taint Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do - reprise
Runnin Wild - reprise
Up A Lazy River - reprise
Shes Funny That Way
Finale Yes We Have No Bananas

[wskrs4]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 5:07pm

bwayphreak: It is most certainly NOT the case with most theatres. The St. James has a very distinctive high (and very WIDE) wall that, from the first and second row of the balcony (third row should be fine) cuts off the front of the stage. It's also fine that the wall is big like that, but then make a slight tweak to the staging (it seriously wouldn't have taken much if they'd taken sightlines completely into account when staging the show). I get it, it's a very specific place to have sight issues from, but it remains an issue nonetheless.

ghostlight: I don't have my terms mixed up. They were practically on the edge of the stage for much of the "one on one" scenes, and from my seats, everything below their heads were cut off. They had the entire rest of the stage - all it would take is moving the actors upstage by a foot or two. I can understand having issues seeing upstage if you're in a mezzanine with a deep hanging balcony over you or being in the back of the orchestra, but what I mean is I couldn't see the front of the stage.





Updated On: 4/9/14 at 05:07 PM

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 5:13pm

I just checked my last night's Playbill. All songs remain the same as your list, up in one.

Updated On: 4/9/14 at 05:13 PM

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 5:27pm

I saw the show this afternoon, having gone into it with no expectations at all, good or bad. This was because there were so many divergent opinions about the show here that I had no idea what to expect.

Now I know. This show is going to be (or should be) the hit of the musical season. It has everything you'd want in a musical-- great singing and dancing, comedy, staging, sets and costumes. Stro should definitely pick up Tonys for directing and choreography, and in my opinion, this show is now the clear front runner for the Best Musical Tony.

And special mention to Helene Yorke. A bravura performance.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 5:46pm

" I can understand having issues seeing upstage if you're in a mezzanine with a deep hanging balcony over you or being in the back of the orchestra, but what I mean is I couldn't see the front of the stage."

My apologies, wskrs4, that IS strange. With balconies, it's usually upstage that gets cut off by the procenium arch. Directors so often don't think to stage for as much of the house as possible. Sounds like Stroman forgot the words of Leo Bloom: "Don't forget the balcony!"

Thanks for your explanation.

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 5:54pm

For Bullets, there is a structure built in front of the proscenium, and hence a few of the front rows were removed in order to extend the stage forward.

[brdway411]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 6:13pm

Here is the song list from March 19, 2014

Tiger Rag
Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You
Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me
Tain't a Fit Night Out for Man or Beast
The Hot Dog Song
Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You (Reprise)
They Go Wild, Simply Wild, Over Me
Up a Lazy River
I'm Sitting on Top of the World
Let's Misbehave
There's a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway
(I'll Be Glad When You're Dead) You Rascal You
Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do.
Runnin' Wild

There's a New Day Comin'
There'll Be Some Changes Made
I Ain't Gonna Play No Second Fiddle
Good Old New York
Up a Lazy River (Reprise)
I've Found a New Baby
The Panic Is On
Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness If I Do (Reprise)
Runnin' Wild (Reprise)
Up a Lazy River (Reprise)
She's Funny That Way
Finale

Hope this helps

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 6:41pm

no, the list up in one posted is the current one since it is the same as the show last night, April 8, 2014.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 6:43pm

"For Bullets, there is a structure built in front of the proscenium, and hence a few of the front rows were removed in order to extend the stage forward."

Aha. That explains it, Jane, thank you. I saw The Producers from all the way in the back of the balcony, and remembered seeing Gary Beach as Hitler perched, legs hanging off the edge of the stage in a tight spotlight as he sings the beginning of Springtime For Hitler. I didn't know the stage was extended. Now it all makes sense. I can't wait to see this.

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 6:54pm

Yeah, I didn't think of it until I read your post about the sight lines. I saw the people in the first row last night and indeed they had to crane their necks back while watching the show. That's because that wasn't the original first row.

Don't miss this show. As soon as it was over, my friend and I looked at each other and said in unison "a huge hit."

[absolutelynot2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 6:58pm

Saw this last week, and hated it.

Everything about this show reeks of Susan Stroman playing copycat with her work in The Producers. If you squint, you can almost hear and smell it in many cases - including but not limited to how the female ensemble during the Act One finale is dressed almost down to the button like the usherettes from The Producers. There's nothing "original" in terms of direction or choreography going on here, and to me, that's just sad. The last thing Susan Stroman did well was The Scottsboro Boys, and this show really only furthers that point.

Aside from Zach Braff, Betsy Wolfe, and Nick Cordero, the rest of the cast feels like they aren't even truly connected to the piece as a whole. Each new character runs out and starts chomping on scenery and plays no real big impact on the plot, and it DRAGS like that for what seemed like hours. The pacing of Act 1 is painfully slow, and only really hits the stride once Cheech begins to influence work on the play, leaving David frazzled. Both Braff and Cordero do the best they can with the material, while Wolfe is sadly underused. I should have prefaced this earlier, but I have never seen the film the show is based on, and given what I saw, I'm not so sure I'd want to. I absolutely couldn't stand Helene Yorke whatsover - her character voice waned on my last good nerve up into the moment Cheech put Olive out to pasture. Poor Karen Ziemba (and the adorable Mr. Woofles) just float in and out, while Brooks Ashmanskas totes around in a fat suit being the second most obnoxious thing about this production aside from Helene Yorke. Marin Mazzie joins the chorus of characters who feel like they are in their own show as opposed to trying to make the events of this one connect, and while I'm all for a little diva, but her role just seemed to be yet another attempt at scenery chewing.

I wish I had enjoyed this more, and I will admit I chuckled a few times, but beyond that I was pretty ready to run for the hills at intermission. I'll be very surprised if this gets good notices from the critics, but stranger sh*t has happened so far this season. The only possible nominations I see for this show is Cordero with a slight possiblity of Braff, who really is working his tail off trying to sell this show.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 7:01pm

"Yeah, I didn't think of it until I read your post about the sight lines. I saw the people in the first row last night and indeed they had to crane their necks back while watching the show. That's because that wasn't the original first row.

Don't miss this show. As soon as it was over, my friend and I looked at each other and said in unison "a huge hit.""

I almost asked if the stage was extended after getting wskrs4's explanation, but decided to drop it until I could see for myself, which I will definitely do later this month (though again from the very back of the house. At least there won't be anyone behind me so I can lean forward to my heart's content!)

Thanks again, Jane.

Updated On: 4/9/14 at 07:01 PM

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 7:09pm

Well, it seems as if absolutelynot2 just joined us (3/27/14) in order to post his ( or her, it guess) negative thoughts about this show. I always find it interesting when I see something like that.

[absolutelynot2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 7:16pm

Nice try, RaisedOnMusicals. I've been lurking for awhile now, just decided to get in on the fun, and just so happened to see this thread getting bumped.

[marknyc]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 7:18pm

absolutelynot2, you should definitely see the film. It's so much better than the show it's hard to believe they use essentially the same script.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 7:25pm

Reading a lot of these comments, it sounds like the show has really taken shape. That's what previews are for, after all.

I wish them the very best on opening night!

[kaylalydia]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 7:51pm

Will there be rush tickets after previews?

[Copperfield2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 8:01pm

I still won't be seeing this for a few weeks. I thought The Producers was overrated. It went on and on and on. It frantically was trying to entertain like Crazy for You and after a while I got exhausted. I wonder if Bullets is the same thing. I like Stroman when she does less.

[Overkill]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 8:24pm

So, sorta off-topic, but I attended a talk back of a show Off-Broadway, with Richard Kind a few weeks ago, the day after seeing Bullets (which I thought was fun, and OK - and Im a HUGE fan of Stro, Zach, Brooks, and Woody especially...) and he said he passed on the show, because he didn't want to sign a year contract to do it... I assume he would have played Brooks' role? Thoughts?

P.S. Brooks turned in my favorite performance of the night. That being said, I haven't seen a performance of his I haven't loved yet.

[Jane2]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 8:37pm

SPOILER





Speaking of Brooks, when he got to the point of fatness where he was attached to the chair, and moved around the stage with it stuck on his butt, I laughed so hard that I wheezed and couldn't catch my breath!

[mamaleh]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 9:42pm

Same here.

Saw the show this afternoon and absolutely loved every minute. Terrific production numbers -- "T'aint Nobody's Bizness" was a special "wow" -- talented cast, gorgeous costumes: it has the whole package. The show deserves multiple Tony noms.

[Up In One]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 10:14pm

I should have said I saw the show March 24th.
Looks like they've had the same line up all through previews. Interesting that all the enthusiastic board reviews are coming in late in the run. I purposely avoided Nice Work as many did based on it's less than stellar run. I was hoping this was going to be different but many have said its similar. Nice Work got a ton of nominations but did not win many. In a season of so many musicals I've got to believe the nominations will be spread around.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/9/14 at 10:20pm

It obviously will not get score but should get a ton of nods in the other areas.

Updated On: 4/9/14 at 10:20 PM