Didn't like the Chaperone- Page 2

Posted: 4/8/06 at 6:43pm

I stay out of these fights usually but: there are no good shows or bad shows, only shows you like or dislike. It seems like every few months a new show comes along that some people think is "Great" and some think is "Awful" and the amusing part is watching people throw out "facts" to support their view.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 6:53pm

I agree, but Tiny is telling people not to buy tickets, therefore, his opinion is being read as fact. If you want people to honor your opinion, then don't write things telling others to stay away just because you didn't like it. When I read your "stay away" comments, it quickly made me think of all the times you've told us to go see Brooklyn when people were saying "stay away". Just kind of makes no sense.
Updated On: 4/8/06 at 06:53 PM

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 6:59pm

"there are no good shows or bad shows"

Now that's just not true. I a pretty big realativist, but there things that are just BAD. awful even.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 7:03pm

I disagree: there are good and bad shows, and this goes way beyond on whether the audiences like them or dislike them.
The art evolves and artists have learned to develop what we have seen onstage through the ages.
This brings a responsibility of keeping theatre progressing, and taking risks while doing so, whether this works or not, that may the subjective part. But we cannot determine the quality of theatre based on likes or dislikes.... if that was the case imagine what the greatest artist of all times would be (scary!)

Sorry, had to comment on that, now back to The Drowsy Chaperone.

Updated On: 4/8/06 at 07:03 PM

[markcohenwannabe69]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 7:19pm

i just got home from seeing drowsy chaperone and personally, i loved it! i laughed the whole time, and really enjoyed it alot. while i will agree that there wasnt a really clear point to it, i still enjoyed it and thought it was a great show! i think everyone was brilliant! but if you didnt like it, then thats cool, can't like everything. but i liked it, and id def go to see it again.

[got-a-light]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 7:24pm

i saw the show in la and really wanted to love it... but sadly i didn't. i did think the premise was brilliant!

but for me, bottom line... it just wasn't as funny as it thought it was or wanted to be.

i did love sutton though.

not sure what the show looks like in ny. but since it's a new work i do hope it turns out to be a hit!

[LouW95]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 7:51pm

Opinions and the usual people posing as our resident theatre reviewers are fine but please rememberthat the more shows we try to help, the better it is for our theatre community. Let's, at the very least, give a show a chance to open and find its audience before attacking it on a public board. People have always and will continue to decide what is or is not a hit show, no matter how we feel about the show. Please post your opinions but dont get insulting if someone disagrees. The more we PROMOTE Bway, the more jobs for all of us. Every show shouldnt be Sondheim or Webber.
Updated On: 4/8/06 at 07:51 PM

Posted: 4/8/06 at 7:57pm

"Bad" is indeed relative. Most people on this board would say "Cats" is a BAD show-- but it's one of the most popular in the world. Obviously, most people think it's "good."

Personally, if I could, I'd see every single show. There are VERY few shows that aren't worth a few hours consideration.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:02pm

Well definitely not 99.99999 percent of the people out there love this show. There have been some especially unkind things said by long time posters on ATC.

No show appeals to everyone.
Every opinion is valid.
Nobody on a message board should be required to preface every post with IMO. That is a given.
Nobody is trying to seriously prevent anybody else from buying a ticket.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:09pm

And we don't really have people's "credentials" in here either, as most of us are anonymous.
Tiny-Toon's experience could've been his first musical or one after many years of research and publishing theatre history and criticism.
So, take it as any other's opinion... I personally have a different criteria when judging a show's quality, based on what others write or talk about it.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:09pm

Updated On: 4/8/06 at 08:09 PM

[aspiringactress]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:10pm

What bothers me most Tiny is that you have gien (admittedly) no review. If you are going to trash a show, it is unnacceptable to not post a review.

[Hawker]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:12pm

"DROWSY is no better then a bad high-school production."

There are only two possibilities for a statement as ludicrous as this:

1) You've never seen a bad-high school production;

or,

2) You are naturally given to outlandish hyperbole: i.e., you're the type who hears almost universally ovationary reviews--let's say Cafe Grey, dines there and reports back that "The food was no better than a truck stop."

I'm down the middle on this show but ALL the people like you have to explain what seems a remarkable fact: The reviews for this show have been almost univerally positive including reviews from Variety, Theatermania, Curtainup, The L.A. Times, not to mention the five L.A. Thearter Critics Awards, just about a sweep in its category.

How the hell can All these critics who generally see more shows in a year than the average theatergoer sees in a decade be so wrong?

By far, the most scaldong reviews--three or four--have been on this board. You can search blogs and other sources of criticism until your eyes turn red and you won't find the number of horrific reviews that you've found on this single discussion group.

So what gives? Why is this board almost uniquely the source of critical pans?

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:13pm

At least they came to Broadway with a well crafted, talent-filled, solid product, unlike some of the misfires that are currently in search of either a coherent plot and music, intellegent direction and staging and/or engaging performances. They still seem to have the nerve to charge the same money as TDC that,personal tastes aside, is a complete show and is entertaining the masses, perhaps better than the other new offerings.

[Patronus]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:13pm

and almost all the songs are completely forgettable ('Toledo Surprise' is one of the worst songs I have ever heard).

It could be argued that that is in fact the point and why it makes this show so enjoyable, witty and clever.


Updated On: 4/8/06 at 08:13 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:15pm

Hawker, there have been lots of shows that got fabulous reviews out of town and didn't in NYC. That's kind of beside the point - besides, CHAPERONE has changed since Los Angeles. It's arguably "not" the same show anymore.

And you think this board is the source for critical pans? Try reading Talkinbroadway.com. As I said earlier - the nasty reports on CHAPERON there make Tiny Toon seem like Mr. Rogers.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:16pm

Tiny, a more detailed review would probably help your case.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:32pm

having this show as the subject of my icon, I am pretty much in favor of this show, but an opinion is an opinion, so I respect that, but just don't tell people to not buy tickets because you didn't like it
sorry if i appear snobbish or acting-like-im-so-coolish, just had to say that...

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:35pm

I should say: people told me not to buy tickets to BKLYN. I did anyway. You wanted everyone to give BKLYN a chance, and I'm going to give Drowsy a chance.

[Hawker]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:37pm

It still doesn't speak to how SO many peope (professionals who see 30 or 40 shows a year) could be so completely wrong.

Theater criticism is a complete mystery to me. John Simon loves "Jersy Boys" but skewers, let's say, a the McCintosh revival of "Carousel".

It's beginning to seem almost a random process where very little if any credibility is given to the public who, in the end, decide whether a show fades into obscurity or becomes a legend.

Amazon.com taught me something: Even a book like "To Kill A Mockingbird which in a poll by American librarians was considered far and away the second-most beloved book in America after the Bible, there are stillp people who think it is a self-indulgent, artistically flawed, bore. Hell, even studios had to be convinced to make the movie which, of course, resulted in the character of Atticus Finch being voted by the AFI as the most-beloved film hero in the history of American film.

So, the question becomes "Are thepeople who dislike the book just as accurate in their appraisal as those who have lauded it?"

If so, then there is no absolute aesthetic: beauty is relative, truth is relative, and goodness are all merely subjective. If that's the case we live in a cosmos that is in chaos.

Something doesn't add up about relativism.

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 8:49pm

People, deal with it, I just didn't like the show. That's it. Stop making something out of nothing.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 9:00pm

Hawker what is so revolutionary about "there is no universally loved" piece of art? Art is by definition devisive.

And how is a show being a hit in Los Angeles but not in NYC any different than the hundreds of shows that have been hits in NYC but not London? Or vice versa?

Taste is not something that is universal. It often varies from town to town. Like I said, there have been several shows that were hits out of town that for whatever reason didn't appeal to NYC critics and audiences. It's not really about professionalism.

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 9:05pm

well, on a lighter note, i love your icon, tinytoon!

:)

sorry, needed to say that

[bwayondabrain]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 9:05pm

well, on a lighter note, i love your icon, tinytoon!

:)

sorry, needed to say that

[Tiny-Toon]

Posted: 4/8/06 at 9:11pm

Thanks :)