DISASTER Previews- Page 5

[RippedMan]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 1:17am

There was stuff. I didn't look.'

[cabaretman24]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 1:34am

I heard the same

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 2:11am

I really want to see this, still.   Jack Plotnick made a film 10 or so years ago called Girls Will Be Girls that is still one of the funniest films of all time.  Seth is extremely talented and knowing  that you're not walking into the second coming of musical theatre, it just sounds like fun.

 

[perfectlymarvelous]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 2:33am

I used to watch the videos he posted on his private YouTube page back in the day, and I think he spoke about playing piano in pit orchestras before he was a writer for Rosie O'Donnell's talk show. And he did play for some of his guests on his show OBSESSED! So it may be inaccurate to say he has  no talent, but I don't know how exceptional he is.

I know this thread has already moved on, but Seth is quite a good accompanist/pianist. So I wouldn't say he's talentless, although acting doesn't seem to be one of his talents.

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 3:10am

Kerry Butler is quoted as saying "(the show) is so well constructed"

Kerry Butler is a liar.

[newintown]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 7:34am

"I know this thread has already moved on, but Seth is quite a good accompanist/pianist. So I wouldn't say he's talentless..."

 

Right. But no one called him "talentless;" the phrase used was that he's not "exceptionally talented," that is, worthy of talent-based celebrity. He's a perfectly acceptable accompanist, but how many accompanists are celebrities? Note that it has been acknowledged that there are some who find him screamingly funny.

[theateraddiction]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 7:34am

I'm really disappointed to see so many negative reviews. I really enjoyed the show. It's no theatrical masterpiece; it's not Hamilton, nor is it meant to be. It's supposed to be a fun night of theater. It's complete and utter camp and ridiculousness and I found it delightful. I'm not shocked by the wave of negative responses, as I figured this show was going to be divisive. I just hope that it doesn't close before the limited engagement ends because I think it's filling a hole we have on Broadway. There aren't that many "party shows" on Broadway anymore, especially now that we've lost Mamma Mia! and Rock of Ages. We need to have shows like this, because many Broadway audiences don't want to have to think or feel--they just want to enjoy. I think this show features some wonderful performances, is brilliantly constructed, and is a great addition to the season. As for the issue of the length of the songs, this could be a licensing issue. I know they struggled to get the rights for all of that music, so I'm wondering if they only allowed them to use bits and pieces of songs. Maybe? I don't know. But I loved the music and I thought it was a great addition to the hilarity.

Updated On: 2/11/16 at 07:34 AM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 7:35am

Can someone describe the set?

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 8:17am

You know, I love me some good camp and laughing at something bad but this sounds so not fun... I'm regretting getting a ticket. At least it was through TDF at least...

[Baiseur82]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 8:30am

LightsOut90 said: "dare i ask for a merchandise report?

 

"

They just had hats, t-shirts and hoodies. 

[JM226]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 8:40am

bwayphreak234 said: "Can someone describe the set?"

 

there isnt really a set.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 8:58am

What a shock

 

Just think of going to the Flea Market this year wearing a tee or sweatshirt saying Disaster.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 12:10pm

No one's saying it isn't fun. I mean to watch Jennifer Simard belt her tits off to a slot machine and Adam Pascal belt out some rock tunes is totally worth the price of a rush ticket. It's just not great camp. The book is a mess. The second act doesn't really have any "songs" and the staging is messy and uninspired. Songs are sang for a verse just for the joke and then it's blackout, and the actors awkwardly shuffle off the stage, and lights up on the other side of the stage, then the actors push the set back out, etc. It gets tiring. 

The set is basically a typical 2 level set. It looks like a cheesy casino, except it's only two large poles with lights, an upper level and a lower level with a curtain behind it that comes in and out. The curtain behind the set rises, and you can see all the set pieces back there waiting to be rolled on by someone, and it lowers again once the set pieces are in place. It's a really ugly and uninspired set design. The curtain is like this really horribly cheesy curtain with like "casino" stuff on it. And then in Act 2 it has like bricks all over it looking like a "disaster." The whole thing looks like it was built so it could be sold to a dinner theater in Florida. 

Again, there's a way to do camp and "cheap" on Broadway and still make it inventive and fun, but this just felt like they cut corners all around. 

And there are some true funny moments that Jack and Seth have come up with, but they are few and far between, and they don't understand how to keep the momentum of a show running. A zany comedy is tough because you have to keep it so high level all the time. It's how I felt about Something Rotten, the first 40mins are awesome, and then it starts to drag and you get the same jokes, the same shtick over and over again. 

[Kad]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 12:32pm

Two and a half hours is way too long for this kind of thing.

[evic]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 12:38pm

Sure sounds like this can pull a Bobbi Boland.

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 12:52pm

And I agree with Whizzer, they should have killed more of the cast. It's called Disaster but not much really happens. 

Plus the boat is literally on the Hudson river and is "sinking."And that's never played for laughs. The fact that they can basically just jump ashore. 

I wonder if they're all just doing Seth a big favor? I can't imagine anyone is getting paid much above scale for this.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 3:01pm

"I think Wayne Brady was there, which seemed odd, and Andre from Project Runway."

 

Tangent... I see Andre all the time at shows. Is he involved in the costuming? Does he know people?

 

Anyway, definitely planning to see this. Any chances things will improve throughout previews?

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 3:14pm

I would not hold my breath waiting for that to happen. 

[jbm2]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 4:24pm

If this is as awful as everyone says- and it's playing to some empty seats each night... Why isn't it on TDF?

[bk]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 4:53pm

VernonGersch said: "I really want to see this, still.   Jack Plotnick made a film 10 or so years ago called Girls Will Be Girls that is still one of the funniest films of all time.  Seth is extremely talented and knowing  that you're not walking into the second coming of musical theatre, it just sounds like fun.

 

 

 

"

You act as if Jack Plotnick WROTE Girls Will be Girls - he did not.  He was in it.  It was written and directed by Richard Day.  I'm not sure how one of the funniest films of all time (which you kind of say as an absolute) grosses under $150,000, but what do I know?  You can't even find a listing for the film on Rotten Tomatoes, let alone a review.  I like Seth a lot - I think I gave him his first job playing the piano on a CD back in 1990 or so.  But any show like this that runs two-and-a-half hours is doomed.  It's fun to spoof genres - I do it in Outside the Box, whose episodes all run six to seven minutes long.  No way for the joke to get old.  In a film, spoofing a genre barely holds for ninety minutes - on stage a two-and-a-half hour spoof cannot be anything but deadly.  I understand some people love their camp and love being "hip" enough to think they "get" what's going on - in other words, feeling above the material, but that's a curiosity factor of today, this self-referential junk that reached its expiry date many years ago.  It was amusing a few times - it's not amusing anymore and yet there are people who scream with laughter at every reference in any show - Something Rotten to name one, or this one, but it's time to move on.  Just because a show gets a small audience off-B'way does not mean it should immediately be brought to Broadway especially without ANY changes in design or content - that's just insanity and/or chutzpah of the highest order. 

[Patash]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 5:49pm

And to think we bought two discount tickets for this Sunday as our Valentine's gift to each other -- which will now also be the coldest freaking day of the year.  And for this we're trudging in all the way from west central NJ. 

Will a bucket full of Bloody Marys and champagne at brunch make it funny do you think?

[Matt Rogers]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 6:28pm

Patash said: "And to think we bought two discount tickets for this Sunday as our Valentine's gift to each other -- which will now also be the coldest freaking day of the year.  And for this we're trudging in all the way from west central NJ. 

 

Will a bucket full of Bloody Marys and champagne at brunch make it funny do you think?

"

Yeah I think this calls for LOTS of drinks. I think Señor Frogs on 42nd Street has a bottomless all you can drink brunch. Check it out. That might be the ticket.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 6:32pm

"Camp" seems to be going the way of "amazing" as words that have no meaning anymore.

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 2/11/16 at 10:13pm

Let me start by saying that Disaster is the worst original musical to be on Broadway in my theatre going years.  It's like a computer algorithm was given the task of writing the most over the top terrible show possible.  It's like Max Bialystock needed to make a quick few million.  It's like a high schooler year old won the Poweball and decided to take their wet dream vision of a show to Broadway.  It's so bad that I cannot think of a fourth analogy.  It's shockingly horrific.  And I give it four out of four stars.  Here's why you should be sprinting to the Nederlander box office to get ticket before this show inevitably closes on opening night: 

 

In the same way I enjoy watching Scarlet Takes A Tumble, I enjoyed Disaster.  I'm not even going to try to describe to you the visuals.  Imagine any diner theatre in 1990's America mixed with an overlong Funny Or Die parody of musical and you can get the gist.  The writing is filled with every troupe, cliche, and grimace worthy joke/plot device you can imagine.  The direction is like a horrible senior showcase at mid-western BA program.  And then you have this committed ass cast of Broadway legends and you wonder why the **** are they here?  Does Seth Rudetsky have enough dirt on them to stop them from saying no to them?  That's a real question.

 

But every aspect is so unbelievably trite that you can't help but get swept up in it.  With a committee cast of greats almost making fun of the material, there is so much scenery chewing that you have to wonder if their jaws hurt by the end.  Jennifer Simard is giving, unequivocally, the funniest performance I have ever seen in my life.  I cried from laughter every time she was on the stage.  My sides still hurt from wondering how the **** Faith Prince went from winning a Tony to tap dancing morse code while having a fit of Tourette's Syndrome.  It's honestly so shockingly terrible that it makes the turn around back to being almost brilliant.  It's an anomaly. It's a freak accident.  It's every thing I hate about theatre spun into gold.

 

I will talk about seeing this ****ing show in ten years and it will be much more interesting to people than me telling them I saw the original cast of Hamilton because it will truly enter that level of flop where it becomes legendary. 

Updated On: 2/11/16 at 10:13 PM

[Patash]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 7:54am

"Plus the boat is literally on the Hudson river and is "sinking."And that's never played for laughs. The fact that they can basically just jump ashore."

 

Ummm. You do understand the idea of parody, right?   That's the sort of thing that sounds hysterical to me.