An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD- Page 2
An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
#25An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
Posted: 11/1/12 at 9:23pm
I disagree. ONCE was an Oscar-buzzed film with a HIT song. They use "Falling Slowly" in its advertising a LOT to associate the show with the song recognition. ONCE came to the stage with much stronger name-recognition than DROOD is. ONCE was also not as much of a box office success as it is now until it swept the Tonys. It did GREAT box office prior to the Tonys, but it didn't join the million dollar club until after.
I hope DROOD becomes successful, but they definitely have to work to get it there. This is not a show that sells itself.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
Updated On: 11/1/12 at 09:23 PM
--Aristotle
#26An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
Posted: 11/1/12 at 11:20pmThe original production must have had some tourist business - it ran for over 600 performances.
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#27An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
Posted: 11/2/12 at 12:19am
...in the mid 1980's. Then a show with a falling chandelier opened and thus began a change in tourist-audience expectations for a Broadway musical.
Again, I'm not saying that DROOD has no tourist appeal, I am saying that it doesn't have strong tourist appeal.
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#28An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
Posted: 11/2/12 at 12:20amDont forget that the Imperial also has nearly 400 more seats than Studio 54...also for those who saw the original now that I am realizing it played the imperial how did the show not get swallowed by the Imoerials large prociemium?
#29An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
Posted: 11/2/12 at 12:30am
FOLLIES ran for over 500 performances originally..they should revive it, maybe next summer. I think Bernadette Peters said in an interview recently she always wanted to play Sally, so they should cast her. She'd have an interesting take on the role, and might win another Tony. It will make a killing with all the tourists!
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
Updated On: 11/2/12 at 12:30 AM
MusicalMo
Stand-by Joined: 5/22/06
#30An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
Posted: 11/2/12 at 1:14amThe Sondheim is probably getting 'On the Twentieth Century' w/ Chenoweth next fall.
#31An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
Posted: 11/2/12 at 10:02am
Diner is going into The Sondheim. Remember that The Sondheim is not used exclusively for Roundabout productions; it can be rented.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
Updated On: 11/2/12 at 10:02 AM
#32An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
Posted: 11/2/12 at 10:25amI made a bet with my friend that Diner will pull a Once and allow cast and audience to mingle on stage, with the waitresses serving warm apple pie and coffee.
ghostlight2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/5/04
#33An Open Letter to the Roundabout Theatre Company - Re: DROOD
Posted: 11/2/12 at 10:40amAC126748 beat me to it. Of course nothing is ever 100% written in stone, but Diner is going in to the Sonheim. It's Broadway's worst-kept secret.
