Broadway Grosses: Week Ending 12/31/17 — Page 3

bdn223 said: "chuckydisc said: "RaisedOnMusicals said: "chuckydisc said: "HogansHero said: "It's also worth noting that, like Hamilton, DEH nimbly survived the departure of its supposed star attraction. There will be a third chapter (that hasn't been written yet) with Dolly."

Lest we forget these weeks were already sold (out) BEFORE Ben's departure date announcement.

Have there been future allotments of DEH sold yet AFTER the announcement yet? I don't know, does anyone?

Just for fun, I did a ticket search for a random Tuesday night in mid September, and there were very few tickets available. Just a handful in the orchestra and some in the rear far sides of the mezzanine. So I think that pretty much supports what Hogan says. I mean, this is nine months away in one of the typically slowest times of the year."

When did those September seats go on sale?

"

I remember in the Hamilton Documentary, Lin Manuel Miranda made a joke that he before Hamilton became a ziegiest musical he thought it would at least run a year as you could easy sell a show about the founding fathers to school groups, compared toIn The Heightsabout 3 days in the lives of a group of people in Washington Heights. The same could be said ofDear Evan Hansen.It should and likely is an easy sell to school and teenage community groups based on the subject matter alone. Just on their face value a teacher would have a much easier time selling the principal/school board on a trip to see Dear Evan Hansen,ashow that deals with the aftermath to teen suicide, bullying, cyber bullying, and the consequences of social media misuse, thenHello Dolly. A show that despite being a beloved classic,its essentially about a matchmaker conning a rich man into falling in love with herall the while preaching the values of socialism, and some of the ugly aspects of capitalism. I don't mean to get into a political discussion on Hello Dolly,if you'd like I could send you my senior thesis from back in the day on how it and Wall-E are Marxist allegories.

"

Not to bring this up again, but the DEH book is a mess and I don't think the storyline is any preferable for student groups than that of Hello Dolly. 

Babe_Williams said; "Not to bring this up again, but the DEH book is a mess and I don't think the storyline is any preferable for student groups than that of Hello Dolly."

Well, you DID bring this up again, to which I can only say good grief. (Actually there are many more things I could say, such as the book is such a mess that it won the Tony, that the show is constantly sold out, that its average ticket price is sky high, etc etc etc.)

To suggest that Hello Dolly is just as preferable for student groups as DEH is absurd. Student groups will be flocking to see DEH years after Dolly has closed.

RaisedOnMusicals said: "Babe_Williams said; "Not to bring this up again, but the DEH book is a mess and I don't think the storyline is any preferable for student groups than that of Hello Dolly."

Well, you DID bring this up again, to which I can only say good grief. (Actually there are many more things I could say, such as the book is such a mess that it won the Tony, that the show is constantly sold out, that its average ticket price is sky high, etc etc etc.)

To suggest that Hello Dolly is just as preferable for student groups as DEH is absurd. Student groups will be flocking to see DEH years after Dolly has closed."

 

I never said Dear Evan Hansen handles the topics well, I just said it deals with them. If you were asking for my opinion on how it handles these issues, as I have said in previous threads, it not well.

**start of rant**

Critics and many fans make the show out to be a deep thought provoking musical drama in the vein of Next to Normal, Fun Home, Or Spring Awakening, when in its a dark comedy. The show is much similar to Hair, where it opens several of social topic cans of worms, but never really goes anywhere with most of them. Hair, at least openly accepts it mostly a plotless hippy love fest, but then again Hair does end shockily by impling that all the love and hope of the tribe could not stop Claude from being drafted and dieing in the War. On the other hand, there are no consequences for Evan’s actions, and the Murphy’s the actual victims Connor’s death are only further victimized by Evan’s actions, with no resolution. Jared is portrayed as the shows “villan”/antagonist and a bully when he is actually the most honest character, even if brutally so.

In reality Evan is the antagonist to Connor or maybe Zoe’s protagonist. The show implies that Evan’s letter, inadvertently as it may be, is the straw that broke the camels back, and ultimately caused Connor to commit suicide. Does the show ever address Connor admitting to this or even dealing with this? No, instead he gets caught up trying to keep Zoe, his crush, happy, and then the entire Murphy family, and then likes having a “traditional” family, and then the internet fame, and then keep Zoe his girlfriend. Its never “oh wait, I might of caused Connor’s suicide”. It shouldn’t matter that Evan himself attempted to commit suicide, and failed to comical effect before the shows plot starts.

This is especially true since, Evan is portrayed with some sort of anxiety/add/adhd disorder, which from personal experience I can attest, would if anything  cause Evan to likely to fall into a downward sprial of obsession over his role in Connor’s suicide.

Unlike Next to Normal where Yorkey and Kitt clearly did their research on mental illness and its treatment, but took some artistic/theatrical liberties when it came to name Diana’s illness...her symptoms/actions are consistent within the world they’ve created. Pasek and Paul on the other hand seemed to be interested in telling a very specific story about teen suicide and were simply looking for conduit, which Evan became. Then they continued to mold Evan to fit the story instead of the story to fit Evan. They wanted their happy ending, and didn’t care how it would impact the prior action of the plot. If anything the show should end with So Big/So small, which although a little unsatisfying would be quite powerful. If they wanted to make it more of an ending moment, Hiedi could walk in on Evan attempting suicide after coming home only to stop him, and end with So Big/So Small... this would imply that no matter what you do,  someone will be there for you, and something that seems so big right now will eventually seem so small. Considering the show doesn’t have an opening number, it doesn’t need the epilogue/closing number, which is honestly what is my biggest frustration with the show. To ironically quote 13, which actually handles drama of being a teenager much better then DEH, “if that’s what it is, then that’s what it is, At least until Disney can rewrite it” . Life happens, and it sucks, but you have to take the for what it is, but instead DEH hands its audience an ending fit for a Disney movie.

 

*End of rant**

HogansHero said: "I also suspect that the same person would not be able to conjure up the name Leslie Odom Jr or even LMM. Or Ben Platt."

Anecdote: I remember hearing a couple (possibly on a date?) on the subway talking about Hamilton. "Did you see it?" yada yada. I just remember one of them saying "Did you hear he's not gonna be in it anymore?" never saying LMM's name... probably because they didn't know his name. They knew the lead of it was a big deal but but didn't know enough about it to actually name Lin. It really was a total cultural phenomenon that even had non-theater folks talking about casting changes in a show without knowing the name of a single cast member. It's crazy. 

HogansHero said: "I don't understand why so many intelligent discussions/debates here devolve into a discussion of one person's personal opinion about the property in question."

Because we're not all robots and people have emotional attachments to shows. For most people here outside of you, "discussion" on here isn't entirely about proving a point. 

raddersons said: "Because we're not all robots and people have emotional attachments to shows. For most people here outside of you,"discussion" on here isn't entirely about proving a point."

I have emotional attachments to lots of shows (in both directions), probably more than most folks, but there is no "point to prove" in an opinion, and further, when one's response to a discussion of grosses and their etiology is to say what one personally did not like about the show, that is about ego, not emotion. 

haterobics said: "bdn223 said: "The show implies that Evan’s letter, inadvertently as it may be, is the straw that broke the camels back, and ultimately caused Connor to commit suicide."

It does?! I never saw them as connected."

Connor agrees to be Evan's "fake" friend in the computer lab, and then accidentally reads Evans letter. He then becomes furious thinking Evan is only talking to him because Evan thinks his sister is hot, and then storms out......and isn't seen alive again, and the letter is found in his pocket causing his family to think its a suicide note

The note is the catalyst for the entire plot...

bdn223 said: "haterobics said: "bdn223 said: "The show implies that Evan’s letter, inadvertently as it may be, is the straw that broke the camels back, and ultimately caused Connor to commit suicide."

It does?! I never saw them as connected."

Connor agrees to be Evan's "fake" friend in the computer lab, and then accidentally reads Evans letter. He then becomes furious thinking Evan is only talking to him because Evan thinks his sister is hot, and then storms out......and isn't seen alive again, and the letter is found in his pocket causing his family to think its a suicide note

The note is the catalyst for the entire plot..."

 

The note is the cause of the plot, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back. He is always being compared to Zoe by his parents and now to have another student talking to him just to get to Zoe could've contributed to his death. The true protagonist is Zoe for helping the plot continue and not pointing out all the inconsistencies in the letter, and the antagonist is mental state/illness. Zoe is very likely an abuse victim due to Connor ("Screaming at my door that he's going to kill me" and act one finishes with her and Evan on that bed (I don't think that should've ended act one but it's artistic choice) and the beginning of the end of act two is Zoe and Evan in the orchard. The letter mentions her, and Connor may not have kept it in his pocket if Zoe hadn't been mentioned and it alternatively was Alana or Dana P.

 I have a friend in the cast who posted that they had their first sold out performance of their entire run last week, and for a show that been running on fumes and word of mouth for the past 9 months I can only imagine the joy its creators and producers must feel. 

Not to mention they aired their TV production of The Christmas Carol That Goes Wrong in the UK over the holidays.  Yet another ripoff of the Farnsdale Avenue franchise the creators can be proud of "borrowing"!

Updated On: 1/5/18 at 04:51 PM