Profile for James885

Looks like the London production of Death Note has gotten some good reviews. Would love to see it staged somewhere stateside.

The Hollywood Reporter calls out Moana and other recent franchise bombs that it claims are turning audiences off with their bland artificiality and over reliance on shoddy CGI effects. ‘The Odyssey’ Proves It: Audiences Want Movies Made The Hard Way

HogansHero said: "I am shocked so many here seem to think that the Tonys have any say in this. Yeah the League and the American Theater Wing don’t get to pick and choose any network or streaming platform they want. And after losing the Oscars to YouTube (which, according to reports was a big shock at ABC), there’s little chance that ABC would want to scoop up the Tonys. Ratings for all awards shows are on the decline across the board. The math just doesn’t work. The best scenario would be if ...

I saw the ‘radio edit’ at the Pantages with a friend who had seen it during the Broadway run. He said there was more music in the Broadway version. I liked the show but I did feel like it was about 10-15 minutes too long. I noticed there were songs on the cast recording that were definitely not in the show I saw.

Kad said: "While I'm sure Jordan and his team had a good chuckle over Chalamet's gaffe, there was already a turning tide against Chalamet, who was never a sure bet in the first place."This. His schtick promoting Marty Supreme was rubbing people the wrong way even before his comments. Very happy for Michael B. Jordan, who I have been a fan of since The Wire and Friday Night Lights. The right actor won last night.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the telecast going forward. The Oscars are ditching ABC and moving to YouTube in 2029. Wonder if the same would ever happen with the Tonys. The Tony audience skews older so I assume they’re more likely to watch on CBS but in general, award shows on broadcast TV are a melting iceberg.

It sounds intriguing. And the Game of Thrones-verse has certainly been on an upswing lately with the new show which has been very well received. I would love to see more high-genre fare produced more. But I’m not surprised at all that so many of them are IP based. It stretches credulity to believe that any theater or producer these days would mount a new premiere of an epic medieval-age fantasy play that wasn’t based on some form of IP. That would be the biggest of big swings.

I saw this in LA at the Geffen Playhouse last year with Lee Wilkoff and Liz Larsen in the cast. Echo a lot of the sentiments here. Good performances, but the play felt unfocused and too long. But I thought the first act was stronger than the second. There was definitely potential but it felt like the playwright needed a stronger directorial hand to shape the material better.From the video it looks like the set is different from the one at the Geffen.

Yeah he’s not planning on renovating the building, he’s planning on tearing it down. And of course the newly constructed building - if it even happens - will be stripped of Kennedy‘s name.Congress needs to do its job, step up and stop this man from wrecking one of this country’s great cultural institutions.

I'll be seeing it in a couple weeks.

Yeah Spider-Man was bad, but I still think her version was a lot more interesting and inventive than the version that eventually opened - warts and all. I also loved her take on Midsummer Night’s Dream.Regardless of what she chooses to do next, she’s had the kind of enviable career that most directors can only dream of.

I think there’s always been a subset of super fans who enjoy obsessively making predictions, revealing ‘insider’ info, tracking rumors and gossip, etc. It’s just a lot more visible and prevalent with social media and the rise of influencer culture. Not just in theatre, but in a lot of pop culture fandoms - a great zeitgeist example right now is the Stranger Things fandom and all the ConfirmityGate drama.

Would love to hear the symphonic version of Death Note! It’s one of his best scores IMO.I said this in another to thread, but I think it’s great that he’s carving out a niche for himself with these manga musical adaptations. Manga has been largely untouched by mainstream western theater creatives but it’s such a booming medium in western culture - especially among Gen Z - that it’s only a matter of time.

I didn't see another thread for the tour anywhere, so am posting here. I saw this yesterday at the Pantages. According to the writer, this 'radio edit' version of the play was shortened for the tour although it still felt long at just below three hours. Overall I thought it was good, but not great. I came away feeling like it was a little overrated and didn't meet the level set by all the insane hype from last year. I felt like it could've been shortened by another 5-10 minutes without losing...

Gotcha. I don’t know anything about how this stuff works, but very interesting! A friend of mine is an adjunct theater professor at a community college and a couple years back they were planning on doing Les Miserables, but weren’t able to because of the tour, even though it didn’t play their city.Taking it back to Mary Poppins, if they do tour again, I hope they use the same set as the original tour. IMO, it was more effective than the broadway set.

Semi off - topic, but how does the licensing change for amateur / regional productions whenever there is a Broadway revival and / or tour? For instance, with the recent Music Man revival, did MTI restrict productions nationwide, or just in the New York region? Similarly, if The Music Man had toured, would they have pulled the licenses nationwide or just in the market where the tour plays for the duration of the tour stop?

Vile and repugnant. It’s of course illegal, but he knows Congress isn’t gonna stop him. He can well put his name in big letters over Kennedy’s and pretend all he wants that he ‘saved’ the center. I’m sure somewhere in the recesses of his mind he must know that his name will be ripped off the building probably within hours of the next President taking office.

Casting announced for Here Lies Love. Looking forward to seeing it here since it closed before my last NYC visit.https://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/Reanne-Acasio-Joshua-Dela-Cruz-and-More-to-Star-in-HERE-LIES-LOVE-at-the-Mark-Taper-Forum-20251211

I finally saw this over the weekend. I thought it was fine, but definitely not as good as part 1. This felt a lot more padded and bloated and I agree with those who say it amplified the problems with second act of the show. Erivo was great, but I thought Ariana Grande was stellar, as was Jonathan Bailey. The new songs were merely OK. They may get nominated for an Oscar, but there’s no way either of them wins over ‘Golden’ from K-Pop Demon Hunters.

Caught Paranormal Activity at the Ahmanson yesterday evening. I enjoyed it a lot and the illusions and effects were very well done. They definitely use a less-is-more approach with the effects, but when they're deployed they're extremely effective - especially one moment late in the first act that had nearly everyone gasping. I believe it closes in LA tomorrow (not sure if this is touring or just a one-off?), but would definitely recommend if it's remounted elsewhere.