DISASTER Previews — Page 9

Dare I ask...What about the stage door?

I must respectfully disagree. I should have written that I didn't find Rudetsky on the same level, tonally or artistically, as any one else on stage. He looked like an amateur who had memorized his lines and was struggling to keep up. It's in the weakness of his singing and his acting, and his subsequent self-consciousness, that I found spite. For a show like this to work, there has to be a sense of blissful chaos supported at fever pitch by the entire company, even if his character is angry or misunderstood or whatever. Roger Bart plays a villainous lech but makes it such silly fun. Whenever Rudetsky appeared on stage, it was like a cloud of death plodded on. It brought everything down. The man is not an actor; he's a musical theatre savant who wishes he were a high-belting diva. Likable as he may be as a radio host or a musical director, he does not belong on a Broadway stage. Having read the recent Times portrait, I'd say no one would agree with more than Ms. Patti LuPone.

quizking101 said: "Dare I ask...What about the stage door?

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I saw the show and waited at the stage door Saturday night. Everyone came out, signed, and took pictures except for Faith Prince and Kevin Chamberlin.

"all this is is a quick money maker"

You mean quick money pit? It's not going to MAKE anyone any money. Except the landlords.

While there is no doubt that this is a passion project for Seth, I don't think the criticisms of this being on Broadway as a 'vanity project' are necessarily fairly aimed directly at him. I don't think this is a case of the Broadway community rallying around a staunch cheerleader and giving him millions of dollars to play court jester with on a silly project

There is more likely someone involved on the producing team with deep pockets, and it is their own personal vanity in having a show seen on Broadway that is fueling this. And I suppose we should say no harm no foul. People have been known to spend millions on weddings and parties, so why not a Broadway musical.

QueenAlice said: "I've heard the show's budget is between 6-7 million. It's not exactly cheap to run either when you consider orchestra, understudies and (goodness) those royalties on the songs. It's a mystery to me as to where the money came from to do it; I can't imagine the recoupment schedule presented to potential investors would be very viable. My guess it's a vanity project and somebody involved has deep pockets and put in a lot of the funds themselves.

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Seth's husband is one of the producers and / or investors. i think that says.. a lot

I do see a licensing future for this at the high school level. Large ensemble cast comedy with minimum set requirements and recognizable songs? Licensing companies love to push jukebox shows because they can charge more and justify it as covering the cost of the individual song licenses. Those factors will get it produced throughout the country for years. It might not be the top money maker, but enough schools wind up in the "we don't have one kid to carry the show, what'll we do?" scenario to make this kind of show viable every school year.

It really doesn't have that large a cast though. They have 11 people listed as main characters. And 2 people listed as swings, 1 as dance captain, and 5 ensemble. Assuming the swings only go on when someone is out, that's 17 people. Then again, that might be a lot for some schools. Mine always did more though.

Yeah, most schools would cast every single ensemble role as a different actor, plus have non-speaking ensemble for crowd scenes. The style of music lends itself to bigger choreography numbers, as well.

It doesn't matter if the kids don't like the music, being able to say it features songs people might recognize in advertising would help. I mean, the first question I get about any show I music direct for a school is "What songs would I know?" Good or not, full song or significantly truncated, people know "Knock on Wood," "I Am Woman," and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours."

The concept makes a good sound bite, too, which also helps with marketing. A send up of all the 1970s disaster movies featuring the hits of the 70s. You teach the students variations on that to tell all their family and friends and the word starts to get out there.

According to Seth's FB, the cast will be performing in NBC's today show between 10-11am today, I'll be tuning in!

PSA: For people with no access to a TV, the NBC App streams the live broadcast as long as you sign in with your TV provider info.

Think it was a really smart decision on their part to do the random numbers---- it's actually very funny !

( only problem so far was Roger Bart's audio --- sounded like he was under water)

that performance makes me think that it would be the BEST cruise ship show, in a small theatre anyway, I could possibly see. Bonus points for including Sky High a song I love and thought was only known in the UK.