CLOSE HAIRSPRAY NOW PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

[kissynose]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 12:08am

So I won tickets for Hairspray at the broadwway flee market this year and I just got back from the show. IT IS A DISASTER>>>I have seen the show 6 times--4 with original cast and 2 now 3 with other casts. The show always impressed me with the amount of energy in the show. Tonight the show wasw flat, boring, filled with untalented people, and just terrible. I was embarassed for Broadway.

George Wendt just flapped his arms and they called it dancing. all the songs were off key and cues were missed. The dancing was dull and lifeless.

I could go on and on but I have no more words for this.

In the end the only good thing I got out of this performance is that maybe someone with no talent like me can make it on Broadwat too.

PS-It got a standing Ovation?????people will stand for anything these days.

[WishingOnlyWounds2]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 12:13am

But Kate Loprest was good, right? That woman is amazing!

[NGD2225]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 12:15am

How was Constantine?

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 12:17am

I personally think Marissa Perry is one of the best Tracys ever.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 12:30am

It's also inappropriate to wish hundreds of people including actors, musicians, stage hands, dressers and techies out of a job. Especially now and with the holiday season coming up. You'll get your wish next year as the show is already "officially rumored" to close. In the mean time please don't wish for unemployment.

[JP2]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 12:33am

I saw it just a few months ago and it was still pretty amazing.

[BudFrump23]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 12:33am

I saw it recently and LOVED the show. And I've seen it 7 times (the most I've ever seen a Broadway show.) It has held up for me and entertained me all these times. Perhaps you were seeing something else?

[the_gambler3]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 12:50am

Your negative title was a bit much. As previously stated, the show is rumored to close in Jan. Sorry, but I've seen the show a dozen times and the current cast is extremely strong. George W. may lack the physical energy of other Ednas but he makes up for it in charm and the guy's never missed a show. Harvey F. is supposed to come back in November so maybe try it again over the holidays, you must have seen an off night.

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 1:00am

Hey Kissy Twat, let's hear it for those who call for hundreds of people to lose their jobs today because Kissy Twat doesn't think they have talent and the show sucks. I guess you'll have to chip in to help with mortgages, bills, etc. for those untalented twerps who lose their jobs.
Oh, I forgot, you're 12, and don't have a job yet...
STFU!!!! PUHLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Marianne2]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 2:54am

i agree with what everyone else has said. I saw it a month ago for the first time, and really enjoyed it. Okay, it is not one of my most favorite shows I have seen, but it was still worth doing the lotto for. I even had 3 understudies on for that performance.

And for whoever was asking about Constantine, I thought he was very good as Link.

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 3:27am

Not to wish misfortune on the livelihood of others and their careers, but isn't the nature of theatre a cyclical one? If one show closes, another opens and life continues and people get employed where others were? As stable a job I wish these individuals could have, it's theatre- we expect closures and things to happen, but we move on and keep working.
Updated On: 10/16/08 at 03:27 AM

[Luckydave14]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 3:30am

I saw it a couple of weeks ago with tickets from the flea market (actually the night the closing was announced), and the audience was dead. Hairspray is one of those shows that benefits from a lively audience. The actors feed off the crowd, and when no one is responding, it seems dull. I saw it over the summer when Aubrey O'Day was in it, and the crowd was packed, and the show seemed like it was full of life. When the theatre was empty, the show just seemed boring and drawn out, though I think most of the audience still had a good time.

[kissynose]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 6:28am

Just wanted to say I do feel sorry for anyone that will be unemployed but I beleive the show is just not up to broadway standars anymore. All the movements to me have lost there meaning.

[Weez]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 6:49am

The more I hear the "if you want this show to close, you're wishing unemployment on hundreds of people!" argument, the more specious I find it. It's show business. They knew what they were getting into when they signed on the line. Yes, it's terribly sad when people lose their jobs, but I'm willing to bet that we're a LOT more "oh no! D:" about it than they are. Besides, it's not like closing a show renders a theatre unusable for several years or anything. It's a cycle. Theatre people know they can end up unemployed at a moment's notice, and they're prepared for that, and they're ready to move on to the next job.

Plus, y'know, it's a pretty flimsy defence. If the only good thing you can say about a show is that it's providing employment for people, then perhaps it's better it close to make way for a show that people are actually going to enjoy, and subsequently will spend more money going to see, which will ultimately benefit *everyone*. :P

[winston89]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 7:23am

I saw it this summer and the audience was eating it up. Despite being on Broadway for six years it didn't show it's age at all. There were even a whole slew of people who stood at the end of I know where I've been.


Weez,

It's wrong to wish no one has a job. Yes, I know that they are in theatre and they signed on to a life of freelance. But, that doesn't mean that you should wish that they don't have a job and that they aren't able to make a living for a bit.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 7:29am

Winston, honey, that's the thing.

This poster isn't saying, "I wish people out of a job."

S/He's saying, "The show is bad. Close the show."

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 7:30am

not specious, WEEZ, just a retort to the op in "similar form, content, high style drama!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For Laughs, of course!? Duh?

[winston89]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 7:34am

Foster, two things. One is don't call me hun. Second of all, I know that they said that they didn't want actors out of a job but they did say that the show is bad and thus they want it to close. When a show closes people are out of a job. So they were inadvertently saying that they wanted people to not have a job.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 7:40am

Winston, sweetie, but the point here and the most important thing in keeping a Broadway show open is that the quality of the show remains good and speaks well of Broadway and the prices the audience is paying.

THAT comes before the importance of the people keeping their jobs.

This person is speaking as an audience member.

[D2]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 7:54am

I agree with Weez - this whole argument is specious.

And to further underscore Foster's point, if a show has become stale and lifeless (and I'm not saying that HAIRSPRAY has, that's purely opinion on the OPs part), but if it has, then the people involved are NOT doing their job - should anyone be paid for not doing their job? Do any of us keep our jobs just for showing up and giving a mediocre performance?

[boonanas]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 8:25am

I thought the show was good but I do agree with the very poignant statement of "George Wendt flapping his arms and calling it dancing" I can't help of thinking George Wendt, the struggling older actor, as a penguin on stage. And jesus christ, I was doused in his goddamn spit while he was "singing" close to the front row. Damn marble mouth.

[bdwaygirl]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 8:45am

I had friends that saw it back in September and have seen it several times over the years with the original cast and various replacements. They pretty much said what the OP said regarding the shape the show's in.

If Joe Schmoe off the street is paying $100+ a pop for his family of 4 to see the show, they deserve to see the show that won the Tony Award.

[fetzles1490]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 9:59am

I saw Hairspray for the third time two weeks ago, and I LOVED it. I agree about George Wendt being subpar, but Marissa Perry was fantastic as Tracy and I loved Kate Loprest. Really, the whole cast was great. I didn't think it was dull or lifeless in the least - I hadn't seen the show in 2 years, and if anything, seeing it again just reminded me how much I loved the show the first time I saw it with all its energy and charm.

[JP2]

Posted: 10/16/08 at 9:59am

I honestly don't see what's stale about the current cast.

Posted: 10/16/08 at 10:43am

So...do you think maybe seeing a show 6 times means you might enjoy it a little less each time?