Life-story jukebox shows just seem so pedestrian, with just one or two exceptions.
Who can be surprised that such uninspired story-telling fails to achieve mass-appeal.
Love them or hate them, but at least A Chorus Line, Cats and Les Mis had a creative vision! The Donna Summer and Cher shows were constructed following a tired formula.
Impossible2 said: "I don't wanna be 'that guy', but I think the problem is that Cher REALLY is not the 'legend' everyone thinks she is.
Outside of the gheys (of which I am one) I think thereaction to her from the general public is a pretty massive meh.
Yes she's been around for donkeys years, but really c'mon apart from her sometimes explosive private life her movieand music careeris not particularly memorable apart from a few very select moments."
This is... insanity. That's like saying Elizabeth Taylor or Marilyn Monroe or Whitney Houston are only memorable for their personal lives aside from a few select credits.
I think the show would have done slightly better if Cher herself wasn't currently on tour.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
I will say the only silver lining to come out of this is now Cher could return to broadway in a Scott rudin produced revival of Mame And collect her egot Tony
VintageSnarker said: "Impossible2 said: "I don't wanna be 'that guy', but I think the problem is that Cher REALLY is not the 'legend' everyone thinks she is.
Outside of the gheys (of which I am one) I think thereaction to her from the general public is a pretty massive meh.
Yes she's been around for donkeys years, but really c'mon apart from her sometimes explosive private life her movieand music careeris not particularly memorable apart from a few very select moments."
This is... insanity. That's like saying Elizabeth Taylor or Marilyn Monroe or Whitney Houston are only memorable for their personal lives aside from a few select credits."
Cher is nowhere near the name or fame that those people had x
Sad to see this news as I thought this was a fun night at the theater. I got really lucky with 5th row center on the digital lottery for this so I'm going to keep trying and see if I can win again.
Impossible2 said: "Cher is nowhere near the name or fame that those people had x"
That might be the most incorrect thing I've ever seen on BWW...and I've been around since the beginning. I mean...maybe she doesn't have the talent of those women (and that can certainly be debated) but Cher is just as famous and has just as much name recognition as they.
SonofRobbieJ said: "Impossible2 said: "Cher is nowhere near the name or fame that those people had x"
That might be the most incorrect thing I've ever seen on BWW...and I've been around since the beginning. I mean...maybe she doesn't have the talent of those women (and that can certainly be debated) but Cher is just as famous and has just as much name recognition as they."
I think the whole idea was bloody stupid mainly because I just can't stand her songs or her voice which sound like she swollowed every note before she spat it out.
Whoever thought there was a need for musical about her life, now, was obviously on the wrong train.
She should have just done a Springsteen for 3 months with the Bob Mackie section to give her a mid-show breather and it would have been packed every night.
The original show I saw in Chicago closed with SJB belting the ballad version of Believe (you know the one Adam Lambert sang and everyone went nuts for.) You could hear a pin drop. Powerful. Well they cut that and added that mega mix thing. Huge mistake.
"The sexual energy between the mother and son really concerns me!"-random woman behind me at Next to Normal
"I want to meet him after and bang him!"-random woman who exposed her breasts at Rock of Ages, referring to James Carpinello
The night I saw it, most the crowd had to be cajoled onto their feet to dance to the megamix. I believe Cher said it was her idea (modeled after MAMMA MIA) but agree, it's both a cheapening and ineffective idea.
Theatrefanboy1 said: "I will say the only silver lining to come out of this is now Cher could return to broadway in a Scott rudin produced revival of Mame And collect her egot Tony"
The title character of MAME ages at least 20 years over the course of the play. We overlook that with an actress of 50, but with one over 70?
Maybe Cher can play the last three scenes as a cryogenically frozen head, though that will make "That's How Young I Feel" difficult to stage.
GavestonPS said: "The title character of MAME ages at least 20 years over the course of the play. We overlook that with an actress of 50, but with one over 70?
Maybe Cher can play the last threescenes as a cryogenically frozen head, though that will make "That's How Young I Feel" difficult to stage."
To be honest, Cher's current 'face' is only about thirty years old. If anything, she's too young, which would make That's How Young I Feel a perfectly tongue-in-botoxed-cheekbones anthem.
BJR said: "The night I saw it, most the crowd had to be cajoled onto their feet to dance to the megamix. I believe Cher said it was her idea (modeled after MAMMA MIA) but agree, it's both a cheapening and ineffective idea."
When I saw front Row A of the mezz, no one I could see in the mezz stood, and only one woman in orch front row stood. She tried to get her friends to stand but they didn’t. She quickly sat down. I wondered if any audiences stood and felt bad for SJB, making a request that no one responded to. If so, I hope they eventually take the line out.
I saw it yesterday and thought it was one of the worst shows I’ve seen in 27 years of Broadway theatergoing. The book, conception, and everyone onstage except the dancers and SJB were awful. That said, SJB gave one of the best performances I’ve ever seen. Strange, I know. I think the show should’ve just been her, a band, and dancers. A one woman show of sorts, like a concert format with her talking about her life between songs.
I'm excited to return to THE CHER SHOW for the closing performance on August 18. (Seeing Beetlejuice and Moulin Rogue on a binge theater weekend.)
Any buzz on if Cher will be attending the closing? Per her concert schedule, her Las Vegas residency begins August 21. I wonder if the closing date was selected so she could attend. Unlike Kinky Boots' closing that didn't open the orchestra to the public, we got center orchestra for Cher. So I'm hoping to rub elbows with some celebs.
I saw this last night only because I try to see every Broadway show and I had been putting it off for as long as possible. I really don't enjoy jukebox musicals and I'm not a Cher fan either but this was a snoozefest for me. My biggest issues with the majority of these types of shows is I feel I would be better off just reading the person's Wikipedia and saving myself the time of sitting through a show like this.
Some positives were the outfits were very well done and the dancing was good and SJB definitely does a good impression of Cher.
My other big issue with this show in particular is it felt very one sided when it came to her personal life. Now I don't know her whole real history and I'm not going to bother looking into it but every relationship / mistake she had in this show it always made it seem like it was never to her fault or doing, it was always someone else's fault thrown in with a lot of cliche women's power comments and jokes sprinkled throughout the entire show.
I do find it sad that the closing show is sold out and yet the Saturday evening performance has a ton of seats available. I get the hype around closing shows and the possibility that Cher might be there, but come on people!!
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
PatrickDC said: "I'm excited to return to THE CHER SHOW for the closing performance on August 18. (Seeing Beetlejuice and Moulin Rogue on a binge theater weekend.)
Any buzz on if Cher will be attending the closing? Per her concert schedule, her Las Vegas residency begins August 21. I wonder if the closing date was selected so she could attend. Unlike Kinky Boots' closing that didn't open the orchestra to the public, wegot center orchestra for Cher. So I'm hoping to rub elbows with some celebs. "
I bet Cher will be there! She has attended more than once, so why not? Especially if you say she is not performing til 8/21.
I loved The Cher Show. Cheesey, yes, but so so entertaining. Cher’s songs never sounded as good to me as they did in this show. I thought there were several good performances in addition to amazing SJB. And yes- great dancing and costumes!I saw it more than once most recently last weekend and was very sorry to miss Micaela Diamond as Babe who was disappointingly out for a few days.
I would love to see it the final weekend but will be out of town next week. Please post after and let us fans of the show know about the closing performance, regardless of Cher appearing, I want to hear all about it!
The Cher Show was one of my favorite shows from last season. I found the entire evening to be thoroughly entertaining beyond belief. Easily the most fun I have had in a theatre since Priscilla back in 2011.Stunning costumes, jaw dropping choreography, and knockout performances from Stephanie J. Block and the rest of cast. The show is just so damn FUN.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "