Profile for bear88

"First World Problems" is a fair comment for pretty much every thread on this board. But to the extent we are discussing the marketing strategy of theater companies during a dicey financial time for the industry, it seems worthwhile to point out changes that the large companies that present touring Broadway shows across the country are adopting.This one struck me as misguided, because it eliminates an easy way for people to buy inexpensive tickets for a touring show they are not determined to...

You pick up the online rush tickets at the box office. I don’t think they’re worried about scalpers, especially because they kept online rush on Tuesdays through Fridays.While the orchestra section of the theater was reasonably full last night, there were empty seats - including a few in prime center orchestra seats that the box office refused to sell as rush tickets. I have no quarrel with that. It’s interesting how different cities handle rush or, as in Vancouver, refuse to do it at all. Th...

It worked out fine. Nonexistent line. Got fifth row side orchestra tickets on the aisle. The ATG website should do a better job clarifying their policy, which isn’t - in practice - really any different from the old policy. People just have to to show up in person on weekends.

Wayman_Wong said: "For the record, "Suffs" is playing the Orpheum in S.F."Duly noted, and I corrected that brain freeze in my original post and my earlier follow-up. Thanks, Wayman. At least I got the number of seats at the Orpheum correct, even if I mistakenly called it the Curran, which has a lower seating capacity. There are still plenty of empty seats at the Orpheum, the largest of San Francisco’s touring houses, for tonight’s performance of Suffs. And ATG has changed its rush policy.My q...

I am more puzzled than anything about the new ATG rules for weekend shows. Why have a policy that only offers in-person rush tickets with limited views? Why restrict sales, unless the language is poorly worded on the website, to one person each? Can I buy a ticket next to my spouse even if we’re in line together? Why can’t one of us just buy a pair of tickets, like we could do a few months ago?What’s especially dumb is that Suffs will not come close to selling out its orchestra seats tonight,...

For many years, I have seen touring shows in San Francisco by purchasing rush tickets via TodayTix. I can’t count the number of times I did this just before arriving at work on BART when I worked there. Earlier this year, I bought tickets for Parade this way.Sometimes, demand would be high enough that I failed. But we could either try again another day or do in-person rush (which I have done a couple of times, most recently to see the popular & Juliet.)But for whatever reason, the folks at AT...

Given how well it’s selling, I assume there’s nothing for Ragtime? The old code expired.

I did see The Importance of Being Earnest at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival last week but there’s no place to add Oregon or Ashland. Efforts to see As You Like It failed due to a cast illness.

Kad said: "As we have seen time and time again, once a show is in performance on Broadway, the window for meaningful, substantial change has long been shut. You can tighten, you can trim, you can even swap out a song, but by this point, the show’s the show."When is the last new Broadway show that made significant changes in previews? I don’t see enough of them to know. Of musicals I have seen, I know Shuffle Along changed quite a bit during previews, replacing significant songs and choreograp...

A few things:- Weissman mentions at the start that this gathering is ‘our first and last reunion.’ There was no previous reunion. Sally is probably recalling what she wore the last time she saw Ben, or as mentioned, the last time they were intimate years ago.- Buddy mentions that Sally chose Tim and Tom’s names. Those were common names for boys at the time, but it’s always said by Buddy as if he’s embarrassed - perhaps by the alliteration, which does suggest a lack of sophistication. He says ...

As an outsider, I feel like I need to read between the lines to get a sense of Broadway’s problems, at least for new musicals. Some of the culprits seem a bit too convenient while other issues mentioned only in passing - especially in the Times story (not Riedel’s) contrasting London’s relative success with Broadway’s problems - seem worthy of more attention even if they aren’t new.- The cost of materials. This is just basic inflation of basics like wood. It increases the cost of shows withou...

I cannot assess Lear deBessonnet’s other work, but I thought her handling of Into The Woods was fine. She had an excellent cast, from start to the end of the tour, but she was smart enough to let them shine. Unlike Thomas Kail with Sweeney Todd, she trusted the material and made it work.I don’t know how she will do with Ragtime, of course. And I won’t know unless it extends.

I always felt that Phyllis was the only character of the main four who came out ahead. She feels sorry for Ben at the climax, and an affection for him that she enjoys feeling, but what she also gets is the realization that he needs her more than she needs him. Perhaps she and Ben will try again as equals, but if not, Phyllis will be fine.Ben is too much of a self-pitying narcissist. I suppose he could emerge a changed man - and it’s left open - but Follies never felt like a musical that was a...

tomorrowBIGLITES said: "I also think we are not economically in a time where people will shell out $400 consistently for a show that is “kinda trash but could be fun!”It’s “tighten your belts” unless it’s something that MUST be seen.And you get “must see” more often than not when it’s large scale and critics are equally praising it.I don’t think “word of mouth” is as much of a thing anymore.Death Becomes Her unlocked something with how they used TikTok. They knew it was funny, they knew they ...

The article seems accurate as a look at the economics of new Broadway musicals as a whole, although it felt a bit unfair to lump in the musicals that opened this year (or at the end of last year) with shows that opened in past years. The 2024-25 season, overstuffed as it was, might look differently depending on how things play out for Maybe Happy Ending, Death Becomes Her, and Buena Vista Social Club (and even Operation Mincemeat, given its lower costs). Maybe they will fade away and won't ma...

Thanks for everyone’s responses, by the way. I am not making an autumn trip to New York City after all (going on a road trip to Oregon instead), but the suggestion to see this musical and many popular shows on Wednesday night seems to check out.

CoffeeBreak said: "The star of Maybe Happy ending is Maybe Happy Ending. Criss being there doesn't matter. Andrew being there doesn't matter. The show is running with anyone in it is the thing. If there is a real star-in-the-making in that show it's Dez. But people want to see Maybe Happy Ending the cast is pretty irrelevant at this point.Maybe Happy Ending is that underrated thing, a well-crafted, mainstream Broadway musical. It can thrive on its own merits. I have expressed my own opinions ...

Just curious, in case I end up in NYC in mid-October after all: Is Jonathan Groff out on Wednesday evening, Oct. 15? The prices are unusually reasonable, which makes me suspicious. The matinee is almost sold out that day.

The tax credit has been extended for shows starting by October 20, per a report today in the Broadway Journal. That’s an extension from Sept. 15 and is good news for Chess, Queen of Versailles, Liberation, and Little Bear Ridge Road, which are now eligible for the credit. The Broadway League is planning to lobby the state for more funds, according to Philip Boroff.

I stand corrected. Hamilton is still playing at a few theaters in my neck of the woods too, so I fixed my post. It is definitely worth seeing, even if you’ve already seen the exact same pro shot at home. I haven’t focused on the musical, as a musical, in a while. Something about seeing it in the movie theater allowed me to focus on it in a way I haven’t in a while and appreciate its many strengths. The production has aged better than I thought.