"Bullets Over Broadway" Previews- Page 5

[newintown]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 2:32pm

The grosses can be slightly deceiving, too - Rocky actually pulled in more people (9,581, but at a much lower average ticket price) last week than If/Then (8,502) and Beautiful (7,140). So people are going.

Of course, Rocky's house would look emptier, being bigger than those of the other two shows.

[Bro_on_Broadway]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 2:33pm

@Jon - no no no, she saves the dancing on top of things for the train of course!

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 2:44pm

There are still a ton of people out there who wait until a show opens and for the reviews to come in... so, handcapping a bunch of shows in previews based on attendance/gross is pretty inside. Not to mention that Rocky and Woody Allen may have some name recognition, but not connected with Broadway musicals.

Then again, I'm saying this where people are already declaring a show a hit or flop based on a first preview.

[astinjeremy]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 5:05pm

Does anyone know how the view is from the rear mezzanine? I am thinking about getting tickets from TDF or TKTS, but am worried about the sightlines back there.

[macnyc]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 5:05pm

TDF members, if you're interested, several dates appeared on TDF today, the first time I've seen Bullets availability.

(Cross-posted with the above!)
Updated On: 3/12/14 at 05:05 PM

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 5:08pm

The only time I've ever been in the rear-mezz at the St. James was for "Leap of Faith." The view wasn't bad at all… but I moved to the front row of the mezz for the second act and while the view was better, I wouldn't rule out sitting in the rear mezz again in the future. Can't say how it is for this show, however. Updated On: 3/12/14 at 05:08 PM

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 5:18pm

"The grosses can be slightly deceiving, too - Rocky actually pulled in more people (9,581, but at a much lower average ticket price) last week than If/Then (8,502) and Beautiful (7,140). So people are going."

It's hard to contextualize those numbers standalone without looking at the number of empty seats per house, which would show If/Then as the strongest of the three:

Rocky - 2,675 empty seats
Beautiful - 1062 empty seats
If/Then - 423 empty seats

I know when I went to If/Then on Sunday afternoon, there were people outside asking people if they had extra tickets to sell, so that seems to indicate a heightened level of interest.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 5:20pm

Those people pop up everywhere. I saw them outside of preview performances of Outside Mullingar- hardly a hot ticket.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 5:36pm

"I guess I'd file this one in the "missed opportunities" bin,..."

JESUS! It's just the first preview!


Yes, and I'm judging it on the performance I saw. An entirely fair judgement. Who knows? By time they do some work in previews, that may change. But for now, it felt a lot like a missed opportunity.

Posted: 3/12/14 at 6:52pm

Up A Lazy River…. THREE times?! Really?

[Owen22]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 7:23pm

I have to counter, I HATE anything beyond the front mezz of the St James.

[jerbull864]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 10:14pm

How has nobody mentioned the part in Act II when the set change happened at the wrong time, leaving Marin Mazzie and others to pretend that no one could see them and Karen Ziemba running frantically off stage right?

[charliebrown5]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 12:22am

I saw this tonight and still can't get over the set. WOW! Easily the star of the show, in my opinion. Nothing else matched it, although Zach Braff, Marin Mazzie, Nick Cordero and Helene Yorke are giving fantastic performances.

I agree with those who said the show is not nearly as funny as it should be. I thought Brooks Ashmanskas had the most genuinely funny moments. He stole several scenes.

Everything else is polished, buffed and shined...but the only song that I can recall is something about bananas. The songs were serviceable and nothing more. A bit disappointing in a musical that has so much potential, and the main reason that - while I enjoyed the show - I didn't love it.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 7:07am

I didn't mention the set goof with Mazzie and her dresser because everything else was pretty flawless, and it was a first preview. It happens.

"Up A Lazy River" represents one of the evening's funniest jokes. The song gets a laugh the second it begins (the second and third time) because of what the audience now associates it with. (SPOILER: It is the song Cheech sing whenever he performs a "hit", killing someone.)

Posted: 3/13/14 at 8:21am

Ah, that makes sense!

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 8:30am

Hearing these early reports that "it's not funny" makes me wince. I hope they bring in a show doctor. Allen can write a wonderful screenplay, but he's not exactly a seasoned expert at writing a musical comedy book. At least The Producers had one. Plus those songs were original and an integral part of the plot. And that was an established film comedy as source material, too.

[Patash]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 9:05am

Like others I'd like nothing better than a great big new musical with all new songs! But unless I'm totally clueless, I can't think of a single person who could create one that would begin to match the wonderful songs chosen for this production.

Meanwhile I bit the "bullet" so to speak and bought full price tickets yesterday to the show for May 31. I had quite a talk with the box office agent. Discount tickets are really pretty lousy seats in my book. I don't do "under the balcony" where I feel claustrophobic and I think the sound is very muffled. And anything further back that the first few rows of mezzanine are too far for me to fully appreciate facial expressions of the actors -- sorry, but that IS important to me. My favorite seats for musicals are almost always front row mezzanine. Bullets is selling the center 5 seats of first row mezzanine as "premier" -- over $200 each. They have blocked out all the rest of the first THREE rows in the center section as well as the first four seats of each side section. Apparently as they sell those 5 for premier pricing, they will then hopefully turn all the rest into premier as well! I think this is a first for Broadway! Meanwhile, the next four seats in the side sections of the front row mezzanine are available at regular price -- mine were $127 each. I looked at a lot of dates and those same seats were available the same, but no dates had any orchestra seats nearly that "good" for that price. I have NO problem being in the middle of the side section of the front row mezzanine. I expect the sound and visuals to be excellent from there.

[djoko84]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 10:40am

Have there been a lot of people for rush in the mornings for the show? I want to try tomorrow morning, but I won't be able to get there until 10a. Also, does anyone know how many rush tix they have?

[bryan2]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 10:56am

Not really looking for this to be much. The movie really only has basically 1 funny line and honestly when has anything with John Cusak been any good after SAY ANYTHING. ...I am kind of baffled as to why they think this is a good idea for a musical anyway...I think Radio Days would have worked better as a musical --


Updated On: 3/13/14 at 10:56 AM

[brdway411]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 11:00am

So if I don't really care Woody Allen humor, is the show worth seeing anyway? Or will I be bored the whole time?

[Younger Brother]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 11:52am

How does the show open? Is it the office scene like the film or a musical number?

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 12:01pm

"So if I don't really care Woody Allen humor, is the show worth seeing anyway? Or will I be bored the whole time?"

I don't think Woody Allen humor only comes in one flavor, so hard to say.

First and foremost, you should find out if they're allowing people to take pictures of the set before the show.

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 12:05pm

I find the original movie hysterical. It is hardly one funny line. Don't Speak, horse derves,sex only has to go a few inches, charmed charmed, plunged into the orange stick, the monkey glands are working, etc etc etc.

The opening scene is set in the nightclub with Olive and the girls doing a tiger number.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 12:08pm

What is the running time for the show?

[nasty_khakis]

Posted: 3/13/14 at 12:20pm

Jordan, around 2:45.