I remember writing something on the preview thread suggesting that the creatives just listen to the audience laugh (or not) and make adjustments accordingly.
Totally agree with this. More so than other shows, you can really feel when the audience along for the ride and when they’re not feeling it. I don’t know why they refused to make any adjustments during the preview period, but whether unwilling or unable this is the show we got.
Reports here of it being 2hr5min were a little off. It got out at 9:20 tonight, so things have been tighten quite a bit, but he song list is exactly the same (just compared in case I was forgetting something) and I can’t think of a book scene/line of dialogue that was missing.
HEAD OVER HEELS Reviews Jul 31
2018, 10:02:30 PM
I went back to Head Over Heels tonight to see what (if anything) was changed during previews and if my opinions might have differed on a second viewing. As is usually the case these days, the show was essentially note for note and word for word the same as when previews began, although the pace had greatly picked up and the timing was snappier.
The audience was not large tonight and I could feel them wanting to like the show, but everytime a gust of energy would infuse the show, a pain
When I first saw this thread title I thought, what an awful idea, but it’s also the type of thing that is just so crazy that it might work- especially if talents like Ebersole and Patinkin would be performing the material. After safe, boring and uninspired shows like HOH, Gettin’ the Band and Pretty Woman, I would totally be up for seeing what the lunacy of a Zero Dark Thirty musical might bring.
(Truthfully it would probably be better as an opera, but if this is true
Sauja said: "It feels like the reviews are worse than bad: they’re indifferent. Most of these could be summed up with a collective shrug. I can’t say I felt especially differently about it myself. Well-intentioned. A generous try. But...meh."
I completely agree. While the reviews weren’t scathing pans, the indifference WAS scathing felt even more vicious than if they actively panned the show more. Brantley of course hated it, but otherwise the &ldqu
GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER Previews Jul 22
2018, 09:46:24 PM
The sets were too inconsistent (for me) to be able to draw any conclusions about any concept the designer had.
Most of the sets at the beginning were of a Charlie Brown/Spider-Man handdrawn, 2D quality, but the bar set was a standard set, as was the jail, the Jersey Shore flashback, the wedding and the Battle of the Bands. In fact, the entire second act, except for when they returned to Marilu’s house, was not in the cartoon style. Did they run out of money or something? I didn’t get i
PRETTY WOMAN Broadway Previews Jul 22
2018, 02:14:31 PM
Oh, I didn’t mean to imply that throwing a screenplay word for word would lead to financial ruin- just creative ruin. The first thing I mentioned initially was that I think this has the ability to run.
PRETTY WOMAN Broadway Previews Jul 22
2018, 11:33:27 AM
Yeah, just because a musical is based on a movie doesn’t mean the book has to be transcribed word for word from the screenplay. This barely can be counted as an adaptation when so much is directly lifted from the film.
Nine stays completely true to the tone and themes of 8 1/2 without being a carbon copy of the script at all.
They were too afraid of cutting a single line or imagine from the movie and had no inspiration to replace these things with something different/better.
GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER Previews Jul 22
2018, 10:45:22 AM
I can only speak for myself, but I definitely didn’t go into Gettin the Band expecting “high art.” I neither wanted nor expected Follies or Company. What I did want was the Wedding Singer and ROA, and that’s what I feel I didn’t get. (I actually think fairly highly or 75% of the Wedding Singer score and think it was wonderful pastiche of the era.)
I just thought the score, book, physical production and everything else was really lousy. That’s not wanting it to be something it never inte
PRETTY WOMAN Broadway Previews Jul 21
2018, 09:25:10 AM
I don’t mean that I think they should exclude just because you’ll remember it, but that it will completely and totally overwhelm the rest of the score, even if it were first rate. Our minds are just naturally drawn to the familiar and the rest of the score would never be able to live up to it.
Did you not think Rocky’s score was overwhelmed by Eye of the Tiger or Ghost’s score was overwhelmed by Unchained Melody?
Even with the best score, if you swapped out Losing My Mind for
It depends on her competition, but I think she could be remembered. We’ve seen actors be nominated for starring in worse shows, and Pretty Woman is merely mediocre. The critics won’t be kind, but I think it will have decent word of mouth. It’s safe and inoffensive enough.
I actually applaud the creative team for not including the songs from the movie in the stage show. Those songs would only steal focus from the original score and make it seem even blander than
I’m just getting home from the first preview and I have to say my overall feelings are positive. I do think this has the ability to run and be a hit; although there’s nothing ambitious or innovative about Pretty Woman, it’s far better than either Head Over Heels or Gettin’ the Band Back Together.
Let’s do the good news first. I didn’t like Samantha Barks. I LOVED Samantha Barks. The woman has all the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent one n
Kad said: "I can't even remember the last time a show cut a number during previews."
The last numbers I can remember being cut in previews:
The Gravediggers’ song in A Tale of Two Cities
Here I Come and Opportunity from 13
A softshoe duet for Jean Michel and one of the Step-Sisters in Cinderella
Class Dismissed was replaced by A Whole Lot Worse during Cry-Baby previews, though the Class Dismissed reprise remained in t
GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER Previews Jul 20
2018, 01:04:58 PM
Dramamama, I think there are plenty of easy rewrites to the book that can make the story move along with fewer plot holes and more character development, but unless they have time to write a new score in a week, I don’t think there’s anything that can be done to completely turn it around.
Even simply expanding the timeframe from the unrealistic one week to something like three months would allow the story to make so much more sense.
If it has been gestating for so long though
GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER Previews Jul 20
2018, 12:32:24 PM
I was hoping for a “Girl Can I Kiss You With Tongue” from Cry-Baby, but it wasn’t that at all. Mouthfeel is one word (I think it was the name of the rival’s band and became a toothpaste/mouthwash jingle).
It’s one of the few song titles that sounds like it will be in the Wedding Singer/ROA vein, but alas, it’s a throwaway tune.
I listened to the Wedding Singer this morning after Gettin’ the Band last night and good god, what a better score. Underrated I would even go so far t
I heard very negative word of mouth from Chicago, but I’m a big Andy Karl fan and at the very least I hope he comes off well in this. I will be there tonight so I guess I will find out soon enough!
LOL, After Eight. I love that you mentioned all that food. There was also the bit where Bart couldn’t find the Buttermilk (gross!) in her fridge to pour on the Fruity Pebbles. And in his Confession he sang about spilling the Lucky Charms she had given him.
My most cringeworthy moment was during the wedding when the rapper said, “When I say ‘Matzah’ you say ‘balls,’ ‘Matzah’ ________ ‘Matzah’ __________. Gentiles in the b
