Posted: 2/28/18 at 7:16pm
Two questions:
- Anyone know what kinda business this has been doing? Enough to even make it to the summer?
- What is front row of the orchestra, BB?
Posted: 2/28/18 at 9:34pm
WhizzerMarvin said: "Good Vibrations threw beach balls into the audience at the end too. "
I was gonna say that this sounds like “Good Vibrations” all over again. Now I gotta go!!!
Posted: 2/28/18 at 10:51pm
Saw this tonight and it was fun. Great seats thru orch M and guess who was there to entertain us at the end...Mr. Buffet himself, sang Margaritaville with the cast with guitar in hand
Posted: 3/1/18 at 3:18pm
It's Sponge Bob for adults. Yes, there are Margaritas. Target audience are Buffet fans and tourists. Don't go if you are only in the mood for NEXT TO NORMALS or EVAN HANSENS. It's escapist fare, and fun if you let it be fun.
Posted: 3/1/18 at 7:32pm
Sorry, a pet peeve of mine but it's Buffett - two "t"s. Same as Warren.
Posted: 3/1/18 at 7:39pm
That sounds like a Rockettes spring show thing. I think they dropped multiple things in the audience to keep the kids amused.
Also, I loved Good Vibrations. I know it wasn't good but it was fun and it mostly held together. It was a pretty simple show that was an excuse for as many Beach Boys songs as possible. (Ahem, Help Me Rhonda.) This sounds much worse.
Posted: 3/2/18 at 3:32pm
I haven't seen the show and I was never a Buffett fan...or Parrothead... So after reading all of these comments I wanted to just listen to some of his music. I selected the album, SONGS YOU KNOW BY HEART, from one of the digital services and I have to say I'm enjoying it.
I don't think I'd enjoy the show, but I'm glad I took a listen to his music on this rainy L.A. day...
Posted: 3/5/18 at 2:34pm
Does anyone have any information on the Paul Tazewell's costumes? What about Howell Binkley's lights? Were any of the design aspects contenders for nomination?
Posted: 3/5/18 at 5:12pm
Buffett was on 'The View' this past Friday, promoting his musical. Hosts Ana Navarro and Sunny Hostin had gone the night before, and it seemed the best thing they could say about the show was the fact that they had the best margaritas ever in the theater lobby - the line was so long they missed part of the musical.
There was some confusion on whether the musical opened or not - he was saying that it opened the other night, Joy Behar was saying it wasn't opening for another few weeks, Sunny said it was the preview - very confusing conversation, and I'm not sure how it even ended.
He then called Paul Alexander Nolan to the stage and they sang the title song, while playing the guitar - which was good, but not too 'involved' with the audience. The five hosts were sitting around him with a 'margarita' in their hands singing along. They should have had a scene with some dancers dancing to the music - really get the audience on their feet. All in all, it didn't really tempt me to get tickets (and I've been borderline about it).
Posted: 3/5/18 at 5:30pm
Posted: 3/6/18 at 8:02am
Woke up to receive an email from Ticketmaster this morning refunding my money for the 5/22 show which has been cancelled. I will take this as a blessing in disguise.
Posted: 3/6/18 at 8:22am
Call_me_jorge said: "I’d say the costumes look like they came out of an Old Navy summer edition catalog."
Well, in all fairness, that's probably what they were going for haha.
Posted: 3/7/18 at 11:00pm
Posted: 3/12/18 at 1:58pm
I have a feeling its going to be a rocky six months for jukebox musicals. I had friends who saw this over the weekend and thought it was just okay. So there's this, Donna Summer, The Go-Gos, and Cher in the next nine months. I"m not sure how many "popsicles" (pop music musicals) Broadway can take. Aren't they all going after the same audience? Plus Beautiful seems to still be going strong.
Posted: 3/12/18 at 2:32pm
Posted: 3/12/18 at 3:36pm
I thought liquor sales went to the theatre, and not the show. That's the way it is in the concert world.
Posted: 3/12/18 at 5:59pm
BroadwayBen said: "I thought liquor sales went to the theatre, and not the show. That's the way it is in the concert world."
You are correct - though like everything it is negotiable. Knowing the concession profit will be high, they might barter for other perks from the theater. It will be an interesting question to pursue
Also, I've gotta comment on the concept of giving critics a voucher for unlimited drinks - David Merrick is surely kicking himself in his grave for not thinking of that.
Posted: 3/13/18 at 12:41am
Def. goes to the theater, and that's why theater owners like an intermission.
Posted: 3/13/18 at 1:48am
While I haven't seen Margaritaville myself, a good friend I work with got dragged along with some friends to see the show. She is not a Buffet fan (but her friends are) and she wound up really enjoying herself. She said the audience had a wide mix--children to seniors--who laughed their way through the show and had a good time. I did bring up the flying sequence and she rolled her eyes. Not all the jokes landed for her but enough hit that she enjoyed herself.
Revolutionary? No, but a fun show. She also really enjoyed the choreography and I know from music directing shows she's choreographed, as well as seeing some of her competition teams and recitals, that she is not quick to compliment dancers or choreographers.
I was just glad to hear a nicer review of the show out and about. As much fun as a strange so bad it's good flop can be for message board discussion and bragging rights, I always hope that a show that makes it to Broadway is able to pull itself together.
Posted: 3/13/18 at 5:14am
Call_me_jorge said: "I’d say the costumes look like they came out of an Old Navy summer edition catalog."
The show is set on a Caribbean island. What did you think they would be wearing??
Posted: 3/13/18 at 11:00am
Saw this last night & I have to say this was a lot of fun. Was it one of the best things I've seen on Broadway? No. Was it the worst I've ever seen on Broadway? No. Now I am a Buffet fan and I think that helps, but overall this was a fun night at the theater & it seemed like most of the audience enjoyed the show as well. Are there cheap jokes & puns that don't always land? Yes. Kelly Devine's choreography was fantastic & I feel Paul Alexander Nolan really holds up the show. The bad about this show: the dancing clouds, the random tap number, the cheap flying tricks, the disappearance of Luff & Howard for most of Act 2. I went into this show with low expectations and came out dancing out of the Marquis hotel. This isn't one of those shows that will change your life(i.e. Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Les Mis, etc.), but if you go into it looking to have some fun, I think you'll enjoy yourself. That's what the producers need to market this as. I've seen some bad Broadway shows(Disaster, Honeymoon In Vegas, Good Vibrations, Rocky, The Addams Family, Taboo), I'd compare this to Mamma Mia! and think it could have a decent run if it finds the right audience(tourists mostly). But with several more jukebox musicals coming in this year, it'll be interesting to see which one holds up longer(Buffet vs. Donna Summer vs. Go-Go's vs. Cher).
Side note about the online lottery. Seems like anyone who entered won. Tickets can only be picked up 30 minutes before curtain, and based on the long line to pick up tickets, I'd say at least 50 people got lottery seats. Talking to the guy inside the box office, I asked him how many lottery seats there are and he said it depends on availability. Some shows may only be 20 seats, others maybe 30 or more. The lottery seats were in the mid-to-rear center mezz starting in row H. Definitely appeared that rows H, J & K all had lottery winners in them. Majority of the mezzanine was full except for the rear sides. Not sure about the orchestra. So if you want to see this show, enter the online lottery. It's worth the $40!!
https://lottery.broadwaydirect.com/show/escape/
Posted: 3/13/18 at 3:48pm
"The lottery seats were in the mid-to-rear center mezz starting in row H"
Just wanted to throw out there - I had lottery seats last week on 3/9/18 which were Orchestra Right row N, and several people in the row in front of/behind me were also lottery winners.
Posted: 3/13/18 at 4:40pm
Posted: 3/14/18 at 8:37pm
https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Flash-Wasted-Away-First-Look-at-ESCAPE-TO-MARGARITAVILLE-on-Broadway-20180314
Production photos out, by Matthew Murphy.
Unrelated to the show, but I always prefer Joan Marcus' production photography work to Murphy's. I think Murphy's photos are always angled strangely and zoomed-in too much. Joan Marcus does a consistently perfect job of clearly capturing character and scene.
Posted: 3/14/18 at 9:51pm
Has anyone else mentioned just how similar this is to Spongebob? Exploding volcano, stacks of burgers, beach balls, island/underwater theme, contraptions on the sides of the stage, side plots just to shoehorn in a song, purposely bad jokes, chubby dimwitted sidekick, the insurance salesmen like Patrick's followers, unexpected tap number?
Updated On: 3/14/18 at 09:51 PM
