. Sep 25
2017, 08:50:10 PM
I had the questionable fortune of seeing a community theatre production of SISTER ACT recently. The cast was excellent, as was the direction — but the problems in that show were massive, especially in the second act when we stopped so everyone could get a second act solo. By and large, it's a pretty awful adaptation.
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Fox's next show - A Christmas Story Sep 24
2017, 05:46:45 PM
Great idea. Pity Fox's track record with these things is so abysmal.
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Musical cliches and tropes that should go away already Sep 24
2017, 05:43:14 PM
Mostly on the music side:
— that *sting* that announces "I've had a revelation I'm going to sing about!"
— 4/4, key of C — there's more to music than that, people!
— leitmotifs. Wagner knew how to use them. You dont. Kindly stop.
— winsome solo piano intros
— two-character scene, very intimate, and a song starts. It builds and builds and builds and builds to a blow-out emotional finish with all b
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FROZEN to Offcially Hit Broadway Sep 22
2017, 11:05:32 PM
My step-brother and his husband saw it the other night.
Decidedly under-whelmed.
I dont normally use them as a barometer for things, but from what I've read, they're probably right.
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Riedel on Investors demanding answers from The Great Comet Sep 22
2017, 10:58:57 PM
ob·scure
?b?skyo?or/
adjective 1.
not discovered or known about; uncertain.
"his origins and parentage are obscure"
synonyms:unclear, uncertain, unknown, in doubt, doubtful, dubious, mysterious, hazy, vague,indeterminate, concealed, hidden
in which case COMET was indeed "obscure". 
Not gonna play semantic tap dancing with you, sorry. It was an oddball work that never should have gone uptown with the inept prep work it got. No, the audit wont find anything untoward: the investors took a risk, and it didnt pay off. Tant mieux. Stuff happens.
But I still maintain this show was closed prematurely because of a bunch of people who made something into an ISSUE when it wasnt at all. They did the show zero favours and then tried to pin it on the producers.
YRMV.
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Riedel on Investors demanding answers from The Great Comet Sep 22
2017, 10:21:23 PM
"War and Peace" is like "Moby Dick" — a book everyone claims to know but hardly anyone's ever read — and I'll add that MD has never been out of print either. The 57 film is nice, but — by necessity — it's a Coles Notes version. And it's not something seen as a classic film. Even the recent miniseries was a ratings disaster.
Sorry, but for your usual Bway ticket buyer, this was a hard sell. If you're selling it as "War
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Music Man Definitive Recording? Sep 22
2017, 10:10:28 PM
I would go one step further and say the film soundtrack with Preston. It's essentially the same as the stage album but bigger and more precise.
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Riedel on Investors demanding answers from The Great Comet Sep 22
2017, 09:50:31 PM
GavestonPS said: "WAR AND PEACE is "obscure source material"? Surely, that's not what you meant to write, Sean. Even those who chap their lips reading long bookshave had several film versions from which to choose."
And how many peple have actually seen any of them, let alone read the book, let alone the seventy-some-odd pages used to create the play?
You're talking about people who think Dancing with the Stars actually means these people are,
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London COMPANY Starring PATTI LuPONE! Sep 22
2017, 08:13:29 PM
Perhaps they should title it: COMPANY: THE NEXT GENERATION
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Riedel on Investors demanding answers from The Great Comet Sep 22
2017, 08:06:28 PM
Harold Prince moved CANDIDE from an immersive experience to a proscenium stage, and no one missed a thing. COMET doesnt *have* to be done that way: the show will work as a traditional proscenium presentation as well.
But if these investors really want to go after someone to explain the failure of the run, they might want to look at all the theatrical SJWs who failed to understand that Oak was *not* a name outside New York and that, cutting through it all, this is a business. COMET was
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OF THEE I SING MasterVoices concert with Pinkham and Benton Sep 22
2017, 07:53:06 PM
Fan123: go read the script again.
Twice more, if you have to.
There's a reason this musical got the Pulitzer.
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Evita white washing controversy? Sep 14
2017, 02:49:27 PM
Let me know when there's an outrage over Madama Butterfly not being sung by a Japanese soprano.
And for the record, Olivier wasnt in "blackface". He was in make up. Blackface is meant to ridicule. Olivier was an actor playing a role. Huge difference, one you folks should understand.
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Shows that need revivals Mar 29
2017, 01:54:47 PM
Nice to see that the snarkiness around here hasnt dissipated since I was wandering these boards.
Perhaps if the OT had titled it THE OFFICIAL WHAT SHOWS NEED A REVIVAL THREAD, maybe everyone would have been much happier?
Ugh. I'm outa here. A lot of you really need to get a life.
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What Unions Represent Broadway Folks? Mar 29
2017, 01:43:02 PM
HogansHero said: "SeanMartin said: "And I can speak from personal experience that 829 is a total waste of time and money. It used to have standards that had to be met for membership — now, just write them a cheque (a rather substantial one, at that), and you're in."
You seem to misapprehend the purpose of the union. It is not a guild. "
Thanks for completely missing the point. Time was getting into 829 was one of the harde
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What Unions Represent Broadway Folks? Mar 29
2017, 09:44:23 AM
And I can speak from personal experience that 829 is a total waste of time and money. It used to have standards that had to be met for membership — now, just write them a cheque (a rather substantial one, at that), and you're in.
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AMÉLIE Previews Mar 29
2017, 09:40:08 AM
The more I read about this, the more I kinda think Jones and Schmidt should have written it.
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AMÉLIE Previews Mar 27
2017, 01:07:12 PM
Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "Hmm. I haven't seen the movie and I really love what I've heard of the score. Therefore, I can't speak to its dissimilarity to the original "tone." Perhaps this adaptation was meant for those new to Amelie?"
Well, I suppose by that logic one could simply go to Wikipedia, read the synopsis of any film, and then work up an adaption for the stage. After all, why bother seeing what it was that made the film so charming
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AMÉLIE Previews Mar 27
2017, 11:10:05 AM
Jeffrey Karasarides said: "You can hear 'Times Are Hard for Dreamers' right here...
http://ew.com/theater/2017/03/09/phillipa-soo-amelie-musical-bonus-track/"
Wow. Talk about TOTALLY missing the tonal charm of the movie...
This is like seeing the film of DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT and then enduring (and there is no other word for it) that crap-awful stage adaptation done about three years ago.
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Footloose ever back on Broadway? Mar 27
2017, 05:04:24 AM
>> "So in the spirit of the passion we both share, let me help you out here buddy. It's WON'T, not WONT."
Dropped apostrophes are a growing trend (as opposed to incorrect ones), in cases of words like dont, wont, and cant. I thought you guys were all supposed to be ahead of the curve.
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Footloose ever back on Broadway? Mar 26
2017, 09:16:36 PM
>> "Its original run in 1998 wasn't awful but wasn't the best either as it ran for about a year and half but it got pretty meh reviews and got only a few tony nominations (and best musical was not one of them) and even though I loved doing it lets be serious the plot and characters (just like the film) in the show aren't very interesting and need a lot of work to make the show good as its pretty much high school rebellion the musical....but what do you guys think?"
I think you managed to list all the reasons why it wont.
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