ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE Previews — Page 2

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "RockyRoad said: "So according to your loic, artists that have sold more music than Buffett all have hit musicals then...right? Yeah, those smash hit shows with music by the Beatles, Sinatra, Elvis, and The Beach Boys were all blockbusters and ran for years and years."

Well,Come Fly Awaywas a reasonable hit (on Broadway and on the road), andBeatlemaniawas a smash for the better part of a decade (if you're referring in your snark toRain/Let It Be, clearly you don't know what precedent those stem from). Elvis and The Beach Boys may not have sold, but two out of your four did better than okay, so your argument's a bit flawed."

I suspect the poster is referring LENNON which was a huge Broadway bomb in 2005

After Eight said: "Running time: 2 1/2 hours."

Jesus, that’s way too long for a Jimmy Buffett musical.

Call_me_jorge said: "One big difference I noticed from Instagram photos, is that there are now two tree house things on the sides of the proscenium, that weren’t there in Chicago."

They were there at La Jolla.

parrotheads are a rabid fan base.
i hope they try again to make better musicals based on elvis and beach boys music either biopics or jukebox.

jersey boys
on your feet
mamma mia
beautiful
all big successes

im looking forward to seeing marguaritaville in may

my intuition is it will not be a big hit musical and it will still be a lot of fun

This has got flop written all over it.

RockyRoad said: "Mik66 says: You don't think there are people who like Buffett and this music? Ever talk to a Parrothead?

The guy has 38 albums and 67 singles out there. 8 gold. 9 platinum. Total sales over 20 million.


So according to your loic, artists that have sold more music than Buffett all have hit musicals then...right? Yeah, those smash hit shows with music by the Beatles, Sinatra, Elvis, and The Beach Boys were all blockbusters and ran for years and years."

NOPE. The question was whether there is a market for Buffett. The question was not whether this particular show (which none of us has seen) is any good. If it stinks, it will sink.

Separate question. Might be a totally separate answer.

(You know that....)

Has anyone else attended a preview yet?

VintageSnarker said: "mailhandler777 said: "Yes there were a ton of them. The whole mezzanine was filled with them singing along and dancing. I felt like I was at a concert and not a theatre production."

I hope you don't mean they were singing along the whole time. I think that's totally fine for the closing number of a jukebox musical, and usually what that closing number is for. It makes sense for the medley at the end of On Your Feet and I vaguely remember the audience getting involved at the end of Mamma Mia. But even if the show isn't great, I never want to see anything where the audience is singing along the whole time. They don't even do that at the Disney shows.

I like some of the cast but I don't know why they chose to make the set look so... portable. "

They were indeed singing along the entire show. At one part it's encouraged(Why Don't We Get Drunk) and at the end like On Your Feet was. It might be different in the orchestra but up in the mezz seemed to be the party area.

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This hits a sweet spot in the Bway audience profile, can easily see the Jersey Boys, Beautiful, crowd adding it to their list. They've kept Bronx Tale going and this one serves Margaritas so they can bring their husbands. Add to that the brand which is all about vacationers and tourists and I wouldn't count it out. The Donna Summer show hits my demographic and I will probably see that regardless of the reviews - but the tad older crowd of suburbanites and tourists who love that music and era should keep it running. The TV spots though are gawd awful.

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broadwaysfguy said: "any one seen this?

if the parrot heads are singing along to every song, they have to do announcements and put a stop to it

why would i want to pay good money to hear top broadway talent get drowned out by a drunken idiot next to me....

seriously?????"



Really? People sing along with the overture in HELLO, DOLLY!as well as during the encore of the title number and finale and no one seems to mind. Or does this only happen at performances I attend?

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This may play well with tourists and the bridge and tunnel crowd, but this still sounds horrid. I’m also not sure how many NYC tourists and bridge-and-tunnel folks are Buffet Parrotheads. I guess we’ll see.

But really, has anyone here post a review? Or is everyone skipping by default?

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I was there tonight. Whenever they revive Next to Normal, instead of giving Diana electroshock therapy the doctor should send her to the Lincoln Center Library (this bomb surely won’t be running) to watch the tape and I guarantee she’ll be cured!

Every once and a while a show comes along that’s so inept, and this is the Mt. Vesuvius of ineptitude, that you have to seriously wonder how it got put on stage. Like The Room needed The Disaster Artist, Escape to Margaritaville needs a book to explain how the %#!* this got made.

Let’s start with some sample lines, shall we:

I think I look pretty good. Whenever I get naked in the bathroom the shower gets turned on.

I once bought some sneakers from a drug dealer. I don’t know what he laced them with, but I was tripping.

(Upon opening some treasure) What’s in there? Gold? Diamonds? Bitcoins- whatever the hell those are?!?!

There’s even a lyric change to they can sing about not wanting to go to Mar-a-Lago.

Act one is overly long and a colossal bore. Nothing happens. Act two luckily has a few campy moments and the plot goes into warp speed literally zooming years into the feature. It’s an unholy mess, but there are a few unintentional laughs.

As for the actors, Lisa Howard probably never thought she’d be in worse than It Shoulda Been You, but that clunker feels like Hamlet compared to this stinker.

Poor Paul Alexander Nolan. He suffered through the JCS revival and Dr. Z, only to come out safely on the other side to do Bright Star. Sure, that flopped too, but it was more than respectable and he was very good in it. Had nice chemistry with Cusack. Unfortunately Margaritaville sends him back in the Dr. Z direction. Hope he makes it out of this one alive to see another day...

It doesn’t help that he and Alison Luff, saddled with the blandest of bland character, have the romantic sizzle of cold oatmeal.

Yes, there is an old man who walks around looking for his lost shaker of salt.

Every line of dialogue is a set-up for some song lyric. Nothing is organic.

I usually go back to see shows again in previews, even bad ones; I saw Wonderland in this same theater three times and it was better. That’s how bad this was! But I will not be making a return visit to the Marquis. You would think that Home for the Holidays was enough pain for one season, but then fate throws this in our path. My God be with us all.

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