GETTIN' THE BAND BACK TOGETHER Reviews- Page 7

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 8/17/18 at 2:27pm

Other than being initially enthused about a starring role for Mitch Jarvis, I have had no interest in this show. But the off stage drama is concerning.

I have gotten a considerable number of emails from Ken Davenport in the past several weeks - early on his mother was organizing a bus trip from Sturbridge, MA to see the show and he was inviting me (and probably everyone else on on his mailing list) to go to Sturbridge and catch the bus. I ignored those. Then the other day I got three emails from Ken in one day— begging and pleading with me to see this hilarious show. Then out comes the faked review...

It seems like this man is so obsessed with his personal show that he is having a nervous breakdown while doing whatever it takes to fill the theater. Not funny. Rather sad. 

Updated On: 8/17/18 at 02:27 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/17/18 at 4:32pm

Stage Door Sally said: "It seems like this man is so obsessed with his personal show that he is having a nervous breakdown whiledoing whatever it takes to fill the theater."

Except write a story people want to see...

[20806]

Posted: 8/18/18 at 8:14pm

Stage Door Sally said: "Other than being initially enthused about a starring role for Mitch Jarvis, I have had no interest in thisshow.But the off stage drama is concerning.

I have gotten a considerable number of emailsfrom Ken Davenport in thepast several weeks - early on his mother was organizing a bus tripfrom Sturbridge, MA to see the show and he was inviting me (and probably everyone else on on his mailing list)to go to Sturbridge and catch the bus. I ignored those. Then the other day I got three emails from Ken in one day— begging and pleading with me to see this hilarious show. Then out comes the faked review...

It seems like this man is so obsessed with his personal show that he is having a nervous breakdown whiledoing whatever it takes to fill the theater. Not funny. Rather sad."

Not sure about that...I usually get about 3 emails a day from him and his organisations selling something or other, filtered out to mailing list so it seems like business as usual if I'm only getting 1-2 extra per day. 

[GeorgeandDot]

Posted: 8/18/18 at 8:50pm

Jesus this show is downright disgustingly atrocious. This show sounds like it was written by a straight white guy in his fifties, living in his parent's basement cause his wife kicked him out and in between watching porn and growing his neck beard, him and his "bros" met up and wrote a musical. This is one of the worst things that I have ever seen. I have no idea how this made it to Broadway. Head Over Heels and Pretty Woman are horrible too, but at least they're kind of watchable.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 8/18/18 at 8:57pm

GeorgeandDot said: "Jesus this show is downright disgustingly atrocious. This show sounds like it was written by a straight white guy in his fifties, living in his parent's basement cause his wife kicked him out and in between watching porn and growing his neck beard, him and his "bros" met up and wrote a musical. This is one of the worst things that I have ever seen. I have no idea how this made it to Broadway. Head Over Heels and Pretty Woman are horrible too, but at least they're kind of watchable."

GeorgeandDot, perhaps KD can pull some quotes from your mini-review. I’m thinking something like this with lots of ellipses:

”Jesus this show is downright a musical...one of the things that I have ever seen (on) Broadway...kind of watchable." - GeorgeandDot, BBW

Sounds like a rave to me. Lol

Updated On: 8/18/18 at 08:57 PM

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 8/18/18 at 11:22pm

GeorgeandDot said: "Jesus this show is downright disgustingly atrocious. This show sounds like it was written by a straight white guy in his fifties, living in his parent's basement cause his wife kicked him out and in between watching porn and growing his neck beard, him and his "bros" met up and wrote a musical. This is one of the worst things that I have ever seen. I have no idea how this made it to Broadway. Head Over Heels and Pretty Woman are horrible too, but at least they're kind of watchable."

Enough beating around the bush. Did you like it or not?

[raddersons]

Posted: 8/19/18 at 10:15am

Miles2Go2 said: "GeorgeandDot, perhaps KD can pull some quotes from your mini-review. I’m thinking something like this with lots of ellipses:

”Jesus this show is downright ... a musical... one of the ... things that I have ever seen (on) Broadway...kind of watchable."- GeorgeandDot, BBW"

I'm lolling real hard at this.

 

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 8/19/18 at 12:22pm

I don't know how to post a new photo here, but the brochure that arrived in the mail yesterday is about as far-reaching and desperate as you could get. (And obviously it was printed before the show opened last week, so the quotes are from...interesting sources.)

[AGussBway]

Posted: 8/19/18 at 12:23pm

how long do we think this will last?

[Kad]

Posted: 8/20/18 at 10:16am

It depends on how much Davenport has in his savings.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 3:28pm

The show is listed on some of the papering sites now for a bunch of performances.

 

 

[zainmax]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 3:39pm

PbP?

Also, how can it afford a cast album?!

[JBroadway]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 3:42pm

zainmax said: "Also, how can it afford a cast album?!"

 

Same way it can afford to stay open despite hemorrhaging money:

DP (Davenport/Deep Pockets/Deluded Pride) 

 

Updated On: 8/21/18 at 03:42 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 3:53pm

zainmax said: "Also, how can it afford a cast album?!"

A new one? Or the one they recorded a while ago?

[JBroadway]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 4:01pm

haterobics said: "zainmax said: "Also, how can it afford a cast album?!"

A new one? Or the one they recorded a while ago?"

 

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/GETTIN-THE-BAND-BACK-TOGETHER-to-Receive-Broadway-Cast-Album-20180821

[zainmax]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 4:20pm

The new one. I'm just amazed that there is still cash left in the bank for this.

Also, which papering services? Not on the one that I'm a member of.

[EllieRose2]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 5:45pm

 DP (Davenport/Deep Pockets/Deluded Pride) 

HAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHA.  LOVE IT.  

He's paying for all of this which is kind of sad but whatever he wants to do with his own money is his business.  

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 5:56pm

zainmax said: "The new one. I'm just amazed that there is still cash left in the bank for this."

There's just as much cash for this as there is this week's rent, and every other expense. It's usually just budgeted in with everything else anymore. At least with a cast recording, you open up more regional production potential.

[laurensambrose]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 5:59pm

He could be using that money to give OOTI a boost, but guess feeding his ego is more important than the actually good show staying afloat!

[moira8]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 6:12pm

Must confess I'm curious to see just how bad this is. After all, I did torture myself watching the reality tv stars' holiday show. Thank goodness for papering services.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 6:15pm

I received a flier in the mail today for GTBBT. If KD thinks this will make a difference in box office, he is truly delusional. As far as OOTI, I’m not sure what else he could do to save this show. It is slowly (or not so slowly) drowning and I doubt there’s much that can be done to save it. He woulda been better off sending out a flier for it though.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/21/18 at 6:56pm

Unless it's his personal money, no he can't just move over to OOTI.  (Or at least that's my understanding)

[bigjoec2]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 11:37am

Saw this last night. My first ever Broadway show!

(Not as big a deal as that may sound. I moved to NYC a few months ago, my wife was out of town, I work in midtown, and on a whim yesterday I decided to buy the cheapest ticket I could find for a show after work, knowing nothing about this. I've been to plenty of touring productions in other cities, and plan to see more Broadway now that I'm here.)

Anyway, it sucked. The music was uninspired an unfunny. There were some jokes that landed, but even most of those were cheap. There were a few gimmicks to engage the audience that just felt cheap. The lead was boring, but he grew on me.

I did enjoy the second act more than the first, but unfortunately I can't really give an explanation as to why. It's possible I went into it with a bad mindset. I did read the NYT review as I was waiting for the curtain, and then the opening talk by (I think?) the director really put me off.

I found the crowd reaction to be odd. People were definitely into it, at least at the start (the enthusiasm petered out a bit throughout the show, I think). What felt odd was that audience had instantaneous reactions to things like Marilu Henner first coming on stage, and some of the early jokes. It felt like the audience reactions on a long-running sitcom like when Kelly Bundy would first enter the episode on Married with Children or just the immediate/automatic response to established jokes. Perhaps it was a Jersey crowd that was reacting to references I didn't really get?

Upper balcony of the Belasco is something I won't do again, and the show seemed poorly staged given the constraints. (I know nothing about theater production, so this is just my 2 cents form the audience). Basically, the safety rails on the first row obstruct the view of the front of the stage; even if you sit in the first row (I eventually moved there after the usher offered it) you have to lean out to see the whole stage. And most of this show used only the front of the stage -- they made it really shallow by using curtain backdrops for most of the scenes. Only a few scenes removed the curtain and used the full depth of the stage, and only those gave me a decent view.

Also, there was some technical issue toward the end of the first act, where the sound went to static. The actress called out the suggestion that they cut the mics, which they did in order to finish the scene (just a few more words of dialogue). Then there was a 5 - 10 minute break while they fixed it.

I probably need to come up with a different approach than "cheapest ticket available" for my spur-of-the-moment show decisions.

[SomethingPeculiar]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 11:52am

The cast recording could be funded by outside individuals if it wasn't included in the original Broadway budget. If the biggest hope at this point is licensing revenue, it would have been foolish not to do a cast recording of the Broadway version.

[haterobics]

Posted: 8/22/18 at 11:55am

bigjoec2 said: "I probably need to come up with a different approach than "cheapest ticket available" for my spur-of-the-moment show decisions."

I'm more surprised they needed to use that much of the balcony.

But yeah, a cheap ticket for a poorly reviewed show with bad word of mouth is rarely a good use of time.