DISASTER Previews- Page 6

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 8:06am

Sondheimite---is it really the worst show you ever seen in your entire life with the funniest performance you've ever seen in your entire life?

 

What are the odds of both being in the same production? It's like lightning striking twice for you.

 

Such superlatives. Have you only seen one show ever in your entire life?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 10:02am

I do get it, and yes, I agree, it's a funny plot point that is never mentioned again or commented on. 

But I will say Butler is the queen of camp, and she makes her bits work like a pro. 

[Pootie2]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 10:14am

best12bars said: "Sondheimite---is it really the worst show you ever seen in your entire life with the funniest performance you've ever seen in your entire life?

 

What are the odds of both being in the same production? It's like lightning striking twice for you.

 

Such superlatives. Have you only seen one show ever in your entire life?"

 

Have you really not heard the expression "so bad that it's good"? It's an elusive comedy "subgenre" where individual thresholds are a mystery given the cognitive dissonance, so it's not something that can be planned well; only a few things have managed such cult status. There are lists of films and such that break this wall and are thus "worth seeing" (I put that in quotes because I'm not interested in such things). Sharknado comes to mind. It's so hideously bad on paper, and I refuse to see it, yet there's a three-film franchise with spin-offs and a video game? What the heck.

 

The worst film I had ever seen, which happens to be in the 1970s disaster genre, was Meteor, starring Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, and other big names. It was just bad, though, and clearly did not break that wall because it's credited with destroying the film studio. So I wonder if Disaster can break enough thresholds into the "so bad it's good" territory to be commercially viable; at least it has for a few here.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 10:45am

Frogs was a great disaster flick as was The Swarm

[Tom5]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 10:59am

I would happily see Plan 9 From Outer Space or perhaps even better Glen Or Glenda  on stage....but a satire of 70's disaster movies would seem to be a little...late.

[Hackasaurus_Rex]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 11:11am

The Room is the ultimate "so bad it's good" movie.  It now has a Rock Horror-esque culture that has sprung from it's midnight shows.  You can't help but become obsessed.  Sounds like that is what Sondheimite was feeling?

I am confused by Tom5 post.  How are Ed Wood movies from the early 50s timely for the stage but a 70's disaster movie spoof is "late?"   

Updated On: 2/12/16 at 11:11 AM

[MadonnaMusical]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 11:35am

Oh my God! Someone give me a comp to this immediately! Where are MY comps???!!! How have I been forgotten????!!!!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 11:42am

To Tom 5

 

Re your Plan 9 comment, there is a little known musical re Ed Wood. Back in the days of Footlight Records on 12th Street (those were the days),I came across a really obscure musical by Josh Alan called "The Worst". It is a musical about Ed Wood. I still have the cd. Some tracks are self explanatory like

 

1. Let Me Die In Angora

2. Bela Lugosi

3. Tor Tor

4. Criswell Predicts

 

Updated On: 2/12/16 at 11:42 AM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 1:17pm

Now, Toeknail’s skill as a shill is undeniable

But what do we have in common?

WE’RE RELIABLE WITH THE LADIES!

 

OMG...Thank you so much for that.  I can even picture you doing the choreography.

[Kad]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 2:29pm

The Room or Ed Wood's films "work" because they're not intentionally bad. They take themselves very seriously. That's why they work as camp. 

Even Airplane!- the ur-example of disaster film parody- understood that and cast serious actors. 

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 2:34pm

best12bars said: "Sondheimite---is it really the worst show you ever seen in your entire life with the funniest performance you've ever seen in your entire life?

 

 

 

What are the odds of both being in the same production? It's like lightning striking twice for you.

 

 

 

Such superlatives. Have you only seen one show ever in your entire life?

 

"

Are you this cool in real life or just on the Internet, bb?

[neonlightsxo]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 2:42pm

Sondheimite, did you see Scandalous? Cause I'm fairly certain Scandalous is the worst original musical I've ever seen.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 4:05pm

What's the show curtain like?

[Tom5]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 8:35pm

Ed Wood's films go beyond time and space.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 9:24pm

Indeed they do

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 2/12/16 at 10:57pm

I would agree that Ed Wood's movies have a sincere quality that make them impervious to the expiration dates that have long since past for spoofing 70s disaster movies.

 

I saw this tonight and the audience was very responsive given that the mezz was 2/3 empty. Maybe it's still a "friendly" friends and connections crowd? I enjoyed myself very much for most of it, even though it is WAY too long and it is utterly pointless.  The whole show is meant to be "bad," but I think there's an accidental meta layer of true badness on top of that that somehow makes it watchable again. The cast is giving their all. I would not recommend paying much for it, but camp queens and flop collectors take notice.

Updated On: 2/15/16 at 10:57 PM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 2/14/16 at 6:08pm

Well for Valentine's Day, I went on TodayTix and bought myself a ticket to see Disaster!... Where does one even begin with a show like this? Disaster! is so shockingly awful that it is unbelievable. It is hard to fathom how something THIS bad can end up being produced on Broadway. That being said Disaster! is one of those shows that is so atrociously awfully that it's good. 

 

The show is a giant camptastic mess that had me grinning from ear to ear from beginning to end. I think it will be a long time before there is another star studded mess of this magnitude. It was amazing seeing so many talented performers in a show so terrible. I thought the cast was excellent minus Seth Rudetsky is particularly bad. 

 

My head is still reeling from what I just saw. I'm very new to living in the city, but this marked my 99th Broadway show I have seen (yes, I keep count). I have never seen anything like this show on a Broadway stage. In fact, I have never seen something like this even on a cruise ship or at a local dinner theatre. I have seen better scenic designs at the (now closed) dinner theatre in my hometown. 

 

I really don't know how to describe this show. For a show that was so horrible, I definitely had a great time. If you can get a comp or a cheap ticket, I would definitely recommend checking this one out for yourself. Sorry my thoughts are all over the place, but like i said earlier, where does one begin with a show like this?

[decotodd]

Posted: 2/14/16 at 6:58pm

I saw this two seasons ago off-Broadway and on paper had high hopes for what sounded like a campy hoot. I loved GIRLS WILL BE GIRLS and was very much looking forward to this show. It was just dreadful. Tired,forced humor and just not funny or amusing. Others have mined this genre in a much more clever way.

 I had heard good things about this -- but Seth must have a lot of friends who came and laughed in spite of the material. I couldn't believe that what we were seeing was the same show others had recommended. We left at intermission. I was shocked that this was coming to Broadway and it doesn't sound like anything has changed for the better. 

Updated On: 2/14/16 at 06:58 PM

[Patash]

Posted: 2/15/16 at 8:43am

Saw it yesterday matinee.  The orchestra was completely packed and the audience very responsive, including the standing ovation at the end (not that that means anything, of course). 

 

I had read all the comments here and got pretty much what I expected.  Much of it I found VERY funny and well done. Yes, it is a parody, and yes actors speak in "bad actor" monotones or "staginess".  Do they sometimes seem like community theatre or bad dinner theatre actors (or the has been-never-very-good actors that appeared in those disaster films)?  Sure.  That's the point, and I still think some here don't get the difference between  parody or camp and serious musicals (which includes musical comedies).   The nun was amazingly good (the only actor I didn't know of, by the way).  Voices were great, Rachel York sang the hell out of those songs and was very, very good in my book.  But I have to agree it dragged on too long.  The whole rat thing failed miserably.  Faith Prince tearing off her skirt to save them ala Shelley Winters was hysterical.  The little boy/little girl gimmick got old eventually, but the kid was just terrific and the whole idea was hilarious for the first 5 or 6 bits.  And I even think Seth was pretty perfectly cast in his role.  Could he have been any nerdier? 

 

I saw Silence, the Musical off Broadway, and I think this is a far better parody -- certainly a lot more fun, with bigger musical numbers, and just generally funnier.  But Disaster would work far better in a downplayed version, smaller theatre -- perhaps back to its original off Broadway roots.  Or would it?  Isn't part of the whole fun of Disaster that it is so big scale and overblown -- just like those disaster movies they are spoofing?  

Updated On: 2/15/16 at 08:43 AM

[MISH2]

Posted: 2/15/16 at 9:21am

Patash said: "Saw it yesterday matinee.  The orchestra was completely packed and the audience very responsive, including the standing ovation at the end (not that that means anything, of course). 

 

 We were there, too, Patash - Valentine's Day followed by dinner.  So cold yesterday that if we hadn't bought the (discount) tickets a few weeks ago, we would have stayed home.

 

If you graduated high school in the early 70's, as my husband and I did, this was the music of your teen years.  If you saw The Poseidon Adventure or The Towering Inferno on "date night," you will get the references and visual bits (both funny and god-awful).

 

We were surrounded by that demographic - a few brought their kids.  There was an instant camaraderie because of this, along with the ridiculously cold weather.  Many people kept their coats on throughout the show - some of the applause may have been muffled because many were wearing gloves.

 

There were some very funny moments, but the show needs tightening, to say the least.  Because I lived those disco years (and saw those films), I could predict some of the jokes before they happened.  Campy, corny, goofy, totally forgettable.  The people in front of us saw it off Broadway and said it was the funniest show they'd ever seen, and they loved it yesterday as well.  The deadpan nun was the best, but even some of her routine got old, like falling down every time someone touched her.  And I loved Morey and Shirley, even the go-for-broke tap dance at the end.

 

I can't imagine younger theatergoers getting much out of this - most of the jokes will go right over their heads. Rubik's Cube?

 

No standing ovation from me.  Standing ovations at Every. Single. Show. really annoy me.  Forced to stand sometimes just so I can see the curtain calls, but not in this case.

 

And yes, I've seen lots of shows, including Hamilton (at a DISCOUNT, believe it or not  thank you, Working Advantage), Fun Home, A View From the Bridge, Wolf Hall, King Charles III and others.  I am among the very few who even saw High Fidelity!  And at least, unlike China Doll, Disaster! set out to be cringeworthy.

 

The question is:  will Ben Brantley like this one as much as Honeymoon in Vegas?  Still trying to figure that one out.

 

 

 

 

Updated On: 2/15/16 at 09:21 AM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 2/15/16 at 9:51am

I don't think this is analogous in any way to Honeymoon, which Brantley most loved for its excellent original score, other than that it is a comedy. And at the Nederlander.

 

This kind of thing is right up Isherwood's alley usually. 

Updated On: 2/15/16 at 09:51 AM

[Littleshopofcarrie]

Posted: 2/15/16 at 11:00am

Can somebody please PM me as to how I can obtain comps or heavily discounted tickets to this? Thanks!

[bjh2114]

Posted: 2/15/16 at 11:27am

They have general rush tickets for $30.  I got two at 4 pm last Friday afternoon.

[TerrenceIsTheMann]

Posted: 2/15/16 at 1:19pm

I'd also like to know if anyone has a way of getting a comp, so PM me if you do as well. I normally wouldnt ask such a thing but this sounds like a show in which most people would give their tickets away, yet I would appreciate the flop. Please/Thanks.

[Patash]

Posted: 2/15/16 at 5:44pm

Mish2, I don't disagree with much of what you say, but why compare it to THAT list of shows?   Are there other silly parodies you can compare it to?   Sort of like saying "I saw Mama Mia and it was no Death of a Salesman."