re: FELA Reviews
Nov 24
2009, 02:19:53 PM
Wait, is Catch Me If You Can not coming in this spring? Apparently I'm not up to date.
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re: RAGTIME Critic Performance
Nov 13
2009, 09:05:45 PM
Yes, they used to come on Opening night and then they would run up the aisle during the curtain call, type up their review and get it to the presses ASAP, yes, type on a typewriter.
Typewriter? What's that? So confused!
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re: RAGTIME Critic Performance
Nov 13
2009, 07:28:58 PM
There are a gazillion shows out there. Could you imagine if each show needed to be visited more than once for each critic? How many more comp tickets producers would have to give...
Nowadays reviewers don't come opening night (did they ever? I'm not sure actually). They come up to a week before, and sometimes staggered based on each critic's schedule. So Brantley was there 3 days before opening, sounds about standard.
I imagine that when you write that much, that often, it
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re: RAGTIME Critic Performance
Nov 13
2009, 02:31:04 PM
Beat me to it--yes, he was there.
He didn't like how overblown the original was. I think there's a good chance he'll like this one...
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re: RAGTIME sets a new standard for musical revivals
Nov 13
2009, 02:29:50 PM
Sorry to go back to the sidetracked topic, but why wouldn't ALW want Phantom 2 right next to Phantom 1, like at the Shubert?
And back on topic--I just saw this, and while I missed a few things about the original production, I overall found to enjoy this more. Just overall fantastic.
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re: Other shows that have made changes after opening.
Oct 14
2009, 03:45:42 PM
Yeah, "that site" revealed nothing unfortunately.
Re: Saigon... so it's a different song, but the plot of the ending was basically the same right?
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re: Q still got it!
Oct 14
2009, 03:09:04 PM
I haven't seen it at New World yet, but the giant Kate Monster puppet was much funnier off-Broadway at the Vineyard than when it moved to Broadway. I'm pretty sure it's the same exact puppet (or at least similar), but what made it funny off-Broadway was that it was totally out of place. Little tiny theater, and suddenly a puppet pops up that seems way over-sized for the house and that you can barely believe fit.
Looking forward to seeing this at NW soon.
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re: Other shows that have made changes after opening.
Oct 14
2009, 02:58:18 PM
Does anybody know where I can hear "The Only Game in Town" from DRS?
Or what the other Miss Saigon endings were?
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re: Othello
Sep 24
2009, 11:44:27 AM
Agreed with how terrible and long this was. When you add that much empty time into a play, something's going to sacrifice. In this case it was the pacing. So much pausing, and walking around, and lack of urgency. The amount of empty seats at intermission was ridiculous.
I did like Hoffman for the most part, however I did not receive this:
http://publictheater.org/content/view/188/
with my program at all the night I went, neither did anybody around me. I'd say that's a problem, but--was the play supposed to only make sense if I read seven pages of "explanation material"?
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re: 'Gary Coleman will now be played by a MALE actor.'
Sep 21
2009, 07:58:40 AM
I'd also imagine there's also the longetivity of the show. You see what happens in a show like The Producers when the original cast leaves, Avenue Q was able to do a great job avoiding that fate. Now imagine if the part of Gary Coleman was played by Gary Coleman for the first year. His contract ends, he leaves, now what? Do you have someone else play Gary Coleman, which would now be weird to everybody? Or do you Weissler it and, depending on when you see it, you'll find Zach from Saved By T
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re: 'Gary Coleman will now be played by a MALE actor.'
Sep 17
2009, 05:40:16 PM
@ricklyon
Has it changed back to a woman? If so, how come? The economical reason made sense to me; also I'm just plain curious to see it with a man in the role.
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re: Has anyone here ever actually written their own musical?
Sep 9
2009, 11:06:39 AM
I'd say Book First. If you have a basic storyline in mind it's possible to get a handful of songs written without having the book written. But after that, it's much easier to have a book in at least a first-draft form so that you know where the songs go.
I highly suggest these two books for a little help on the process, the overlap is surprisingly little:
http://www.amazon.com/Making-Musicals-Informal-Introduction-Musical/dp/0879100958/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252509142&sr=8-6
http://www.amazon.com/Musical-Theatre-Writers-Survival-Guide/dp/0325007861/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252509142&sr=8-3
Spencer gave me some advice (I don't remember if he actually put it in the book or not) that I've been making use of lately: since I write book and lyrics, what I do nowadays is write the book first straight out, and where I suspect there'll be a song I overwrite the dialogue (or write overly-long monologues). Then I go back later and cannibalize my own writing for lyrics. I'm sure that this wouldn't have worked, however, if Jason Robert Brown tried to use this method to write Last Five Years.
Good luck!
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re: Twelfth Night - Shakespeare In The Park
Jul 9
2009, 03:26:02 PM
I did once see an old Midsummer Night's Dream with Christine Baranski as Helen, probably a PBS taping? Which would mean it would have to be available somewhere...
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re: Why The Phantom Of The Opera Just Doesn't Work As A Piece Of Theatre
Jun 25
2009, 11:53:38 AM
Makes sense, Gawkish is a strange word for Americans.
(But I still like the idea that they changed it to remove the words "you're really not a bitch.")
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re: Why The Phantom Of The Opera Just Doesn't Work As A Piece Of Theatre
Jun 25
2009, 11:36:44 AM
So, off-topic-ish, there's this one oft-misheard lyric on the cast album,
"What a change, you're really not a bit
The gawkish girl that once you were..."
Which I and others always heard as
"You're really not a bitch... the gawkish girl..."
I just saw Phantom again and they changed those 2 lines entirely. Does anybody know what the new lines are? Any idea when they changed it? It's possible that they were always those two new lines on Broadway and I jus
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re: Twelfth Night - Shakespeare In The Park
Jun 25
2009, 11:02:21 AM
"Has anyone ever tried stand-by for an opening night?"
You know, I was going to say that I don't suggest it because they don't have regular 1pm ticket giveaways for that day, so the standby would take up all the rest. And then I realized, maybe because there's no 1pm, nobody will think to standby.
(Obviously I've just added nothing to this conversation.)
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re: Misheard Lyrics That Have Left You Puzzled
Jun 19
2009, 05:08:10 PM
In "One Day More", on one of the cast albums (probably Broadway), Javert sings:
"One More Day Till Revolution
We will nip it in the bud.
I will get there little schoolboys.
They will WET THEMSELVES."
And I thought that was hilarious, and kind of out of character for Javert.
(In truth, Valjean sings over the next two words, "...with blood.")
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re: A Load of Musical Revivals for the Coming Season
Jun 18
2009, 05:26:57 PM
"Merrily fell through a while ago. Roundabout will most likely be doing iSondheim instead."
They're not calling it iSondheim anymore. I forget the working title I heard, but I remember liking it.
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re: A Load of Musical Revivals for the Coming Season
Jun 18
2009, 05:17:51 PM
Thanks frogs_fan85!
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re: Tony Awards to 'Retire' Special Theatrical Event Category
Jun 18
2009, 05:16:25 PM
"Like "Liza's at the Palace" is an artistic achievement. It's a washed-up gay icon doing a bad impression of herself and gargling out Kander and Ebb songs. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Award_for_Best_Special_Theatrical_Event
Putting these in the same bucket as plays and musicals is muddy.
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