WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Broadway Previews- Page 5

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/6/24 at 11:19am

I saw the show last night and it was roughly 2h45 minutes. When I checked my watch exiting the theater last night, it was 10:55pm (show started a few mins after 8pm with 1 intermission.) There's still room for cuts so hopefully they'll be able to tighten the show to 2h30 mins.

I thought the show started off well. I loved the artistry done during the mare song ("Easy" sung by Isabelle McCalla) in Act 1. That was probably one of my favorite scenes of the show. As others have said, the acrobatics were outstanding and parts of it reminded me of Pippin and Paramour. 

As for the elephant puppet, I wish the elephant ears were bigger. 

Yes, I plan to see the show again after opening. 

 

 

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 3/6/24 at 11:29am

In a season where things will get squeezed out by the sheer number of options, I can't help but feel like this is the big show on the chopping block regardless of how much love they get from award nominators. I'm going to predict a little bleaker and say that we'll see this out within a month of opening.

So much talent and artistry on that stage, but they're working with a bland and forgettable template. I really, really wanted to have a good time. I just couldn't care.

Updated On: 3/6/24 at 11:29 AM

[Hope Lombardo]

Posted: 3/6/24 at 4:27pm

I saw this review on Reddit this morning on one of the Broadway subreddits:

"I've seen this show many times, and tonight was special. They're making a lot of changes to the book and flow and it's paying off! Paul Nolan was on fire.
They've tightened things up. Songs and dialogue have been trimmed, and the book just has more "flow" than the first few previews I saw and the energy doesn't dip as drastically. I think bows started just before 10:45 last night, so they've shaved at least 10 minutes off the show. " 
 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/6/24 at 5:07pm

So are the paid shills and friends / family pretty much the only ones who like this show?

Lately, I've been looking at seating charts from official ticket sellers a few hours before some evening performances, for the new musicals this spring that are tougher sells. It looks like Elephants has been filling up most of their house so far, though for all I know, half the Imperial could be comped.

[QueenTwinnied]

Posted: 3/6/24 at 5:25pm

So people liking and wanting to see a show must be a conspiracy? Do you also think Covid vaccines contain gps trackers? 

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 3/6/24 at 5:45pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "So are the paid shills and friends / family pretty much the only ones who like this show?."

I liked it. It's got problems but I still had a fun time.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 12:44pm

[DaveyG]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 1:25pm

Talented cast, but the bland writing and design made it a total fail for me. The fact that it cost over 25 million dollars is baffling because it looked very cheap. I don't foresee a long run ahead. 

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 2:01pm

It's very telling that with these new photos released, they continue to hide the elephant puppet from all marketing.

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 2:06pm

Falsettolands said: "In a season where things will get squeezed out by the sheer number of options, I can't help but feel like this is the big show on the chopping block regardless of how much love they get from award nominators. I'm going to predict a little bleaker and say that we'll see this out within a month of opening.

So much talent and artistry on that stage, but they're working with a bland and forgettable template. I really, really wanted to have a good time. I just couldn't care."

I don't think it will succeed but I don't think it will close THAT quickly. They'll at least wait it out for Tony noms and then if it gets a slew (big IF), probably ride it out through the awards 

[DaveyG]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 2:32pm

Mr. Wormwood said:

I don't think it will succeed but I don't think it will close THAT quickly. They'll at least wait it out for Tony noms and then if it gets a slew (big IF), probably ride it out through the awards"

Apparently 3 million dollars of the cap is reserve so they can take some losses for a few months. But at some point, it has to pay for itself. I'm not hopeful for it. 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 3:23pm

FANtomFollies said: "It's very telling that with these new photos released, they continue to hide the elephant puppet from all marketing."

 

Why do you think they should give away the surprises for free?

 

[60'splayoff]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 3:41pm

FANtomFollies said: "It's very telling that with these new photos released, they continue to hide the elephant puppet from all marketing."

Very telling. It also matches the teasing of Rosie before her "big reveal" in the show. With those cartoon eyes, boy is it disappointing.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 3:50pm

The cast will perform from the show on Good Morning America this Tuesday. 

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 4:05pm

Has anyone tried the MTC 30 dollar deal?  What seats did you get? 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 4:10pm

DaveyG said: "Apparently 3 million dollars of the cap is reserve so they can take some losses for a few months. But at some point, it has to pay for itself. I'm not hopeful for it."

That's a healthy reserve, but keep in mind that USUALLY covers any budget lines that go over + closing costs (loadout, reconciling the books, etc). So if the costumes and set come in over budget, or if they reorchestrate a bunch of songs in previews, or if previews lose more money than anticipated, that can really chip into the reserve. (The weekly running cost is about $950K, right?)

[BETTY22]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 4:26pm

It's $1,100.000 per week.......

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 4:33pm

FANtomFollies said: "It's very telling that with these new photos released, they continue to hide the elephant puppet from all marketing."

Exactly. They try to do a slow reveal of the elephant in the show, but when it finally makes it's full entrance, it's quite disappointing. Exact same concept as The Lion King, but it just looks a whole lot cheaper/worse. The less said about the other puppets and animals, the better.

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 4:35pm

JSquared2 said: "FANtomFollies said: "It's very telling that with these new photos released, they continue to hide the elephant puppet from all marketing."

Why do you think they should give away the surprises for free?"

Does Lion King 'give away the surprise' for free every time they show the puppets in their marketing? Get real. 

[pablitonizer]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 4:48pm

BETTY22 said: "It's $1,100.000 per week......."

seriously? Oof I don't see a bright future

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 5:20pm

I saw this last night and agree with everyone's thoughts. The score has NOTHING memorable, nobody is insanely terrific just "way better than their material" at best for some, and the score is both too simple but too long to just be the simple story.

I'd cut the framing device entirely. It's there for basically no reason and those moments could be used to give our leads...any sense of character. Why does everyone only sing about traveling? Why doesn't our leading lady have a "Why I Joined the Circus" number that explains her life and also causes the leading man to WANT to stick around since he's only hired for a day for food and that's all he seems to be after. We also know PAN's character is a greedy jerk but we don't see a THREAT until she's already leaving him. 

I'll not oversell it because of course most Cirque shows have crazier tricks but I at least enjoyed the 5 clear circus performers who are working their butts off. It actually reminded me of the 1940s "singing chorus/dancing chorus" because it was VERY clear who was doing the tricks and never spoke or moved mouths in songs and who was singing constantly but never did more than simple basic choreo.

I also had a problem with the actual circus costumes. They weren't amazing or jaw-dropping by any means but they still seemed very clean and polished for the time period of the depression and how poorly the show is doing. I don't think they'd have fresh clean feathers and crystals but I guess the "give em something to look at!" mentality won out.

There was a house manager who I spoke with briefly and she basically yelled at me for grabbing a playbill (one) as I left but I said I didnt know that was wrong and she apologized and said "oh people are grabbing whole stacks for Grant to sign" which surprised me he has that kind of fan base.

I don't think we have a big beautiful monster hit (where is that cost from????) but they could certainly make some cuts, maybe add a couple of stronger to the story/characters songs, and make it...fine.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 5:59pm

I don’t really understand why this property exists. Are regional theaters even going to put this on granted they’d need circus performers and puppets? This is getting bad word of mouth. 

[Wick3]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 6:03pm

Grant Gustin has around 8M followers on instagram. I think bulk of his fanbase are from his Flash days.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 6:18pm

FANtomFollies said: "JSquared2 said: "FANtomFollies said: "It's very telling that with these new photos released, they continue to hide the elephant puppet from all marketing."

Why do you think they should give away the surprises for free?"

Does Lion King 'give away the surprise' for free every time they show the puppets in their marketing? Get real."

Have you seen the show? Lion King OPENS with 400 puppets emerging from within the audience. Water for Elephants hides the elephant for a solid hour. While I agree that the big reveal is a major disappointment (particularly given how gorgeously done they present the horse in act 1) it would be nuts to advertise the thing they want to "reveal" in the show.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/8/24 at 6:20pm

Wick3 said: "Grant Gustin has around 8M followers on instagram. I think bulk of his fanbase are from his Flash days."

Yeah, there's a big difference between knowing who someone is and caring about who they are.

His name is practically nowhere on the advertising materials and he's not billed above the title, so anyone going for him is either a superfan who can recognize his face in side profile, or they follow him on socials.