GROUNDHOG DAY Previews — Page 8

neonlightsxo said: "I'll repeat myself, since this is the Groundhog Day thread. They didn't make any changes after London, they're not going to make them now.



"

Thank you for being the voice of the creative team! I am sure (no, positive) that only after 4 days of previews they are happy with their product as is.

GreasedLightning said: "neonlightsxo said: "I'll repeat myself, since this is the Groundhog Day thread. They didn't make any changes after London, they're not going to make them now.



"

Thank you for being the voice of the creative team! I am sure (no, positive) that only after 4 days of previews they are happy with their product as is.



"

Thank you!!!!

FrontLtGuy said: "WhizzerMarvin said: "The comparison made to American Psycho (which I also grew to have an affection for) was not that the actual material/presentation is similar, but that Groundhog Day is generating the same polarizing response that American Psycho received. Pretty hard to argue against that in this thread.





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Except that Groundhog Day has only had 5 previews...AP had a strong intriegue going into performances that wound up in disappointment, where as this appears to have quite the opposite effect in my opinion, based on the reactions in the theater, not the reviews on this board



American Psycho proved to be one more divisive musicals on Broadway in the past five years, and yes that was evident even after only five previews. It was a disappointment to some, not all. For every disappointed customer there was an equally ardent fan.

And I really enjoyed Groundhog Day, but I heard people in front of me grumbling about it at intermission and a friend last night (not seated near me) absolutely loathed it. It's clear there were many papered audience members, understandable for a Monday night in previews, but you can never judge a show's success based on first/early preview response or I guarantee you that 9 to 5 would still be running today!

Updated On: 3/22/17 at 12:08 AM

I was there last night and thoroughly enjoyed myself. The show did feel long but I do think the repetition of scenes doesn't help that case. If I were to cut anything I'd go for the doctor song (totally superfluous, if anything you can keep Josh Lamon's part and cut the rest) and tighten up the car chase in the truck song. I think those who say act 1 and 2 are very different are correct, and if anything they need to just get things to move a little faster in act one. We all know it's coming. They did a lot of "do overs" in act 2 that I felt could have easily been used once or twice in act 1. Also the fact that random characters also have songs. Nancy, we don't care. Not in the least. Overall some AMAZING staging and wonderful performances. That man has star power.

Skimbleshanks2 said: "carnzee said: "I was looking forward to your review, Skimbleshanks. I knew it would be a rave, but it's nice to read enthusiastic reviews from people like you and Dollypop on the Hello, Dolly! thread. It's great to see theatre bringing so much joy! I'm happy for you and your husband.



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Thank you so much; that means a lot to me and my husband... We have been quite emotional this past week, to say the least!!

And yes, my crazy a*** already has three more sets of tickets LOL...I'll be supporting my Broadway husband, ANDY KARL, for as long as this show runs (even if it's only for a few more months LOL!!)

And the negative reviews here bum me out, because as people have said, the audience really had a great time at my show... it's SUCH a fun time at the theater, in an already A+ level season!! Really, the only bad show I've seen lately is WAR PAINT (ughhh more on that momentarily...)



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War Paint is bad... but it's so bad that it's GOOD. You've just gotta sit back and enjoy the camp. Bitching and Belting... what more could any gay man ask for? (sorry for War Paint digression in the Groundhog Day thread)

themysteriousgrowl said: "I spent 90% of WAR PAINT bored out of my mind."

Was the 10% intermission?

Everyone keeps saying this is a story told in a non-traditional way. How so? Are you referring to the story itself or this staging of the story?

The "non-traditional" story - as in the repetitive nature of it - is not new. Many people have already seen the movie or have an idea of what it's about. So I don't see how that's a selling point. It's still the same story they could have paid $9.99 to see Bill Murray tell.

If you're referring to the staging, I don't think it was non-traditional. The car chase was fun but we were all so bored by that point that we were just happy to be entertained. It comes after that useless drinking song. The constant use of the revolves started to make me a bit woozy. I also felt that they gave the illusion that the show was moving along briskly even though the book was slow and dull. As someone stated earlier, the best lines are the ones pulled from the movie. Like "Rocky", people were only laughing at what they recognized.

Glad that previous audiences enjoyed it. Maybe it was something in the air, but the folks in the mezz last night were pretty miserable. Actually, one guy in the corner of the mess was having a BLAST, so. There's that.

I have t agree with theatregoer3. Aside from a small group in the last three rows of the rear mezzanine Saturday night, the rest of the mezzanine seemed very bored with polite and tepid clapping throughout the show. The most exciting part of the show for us was the tech stop...

neonlightsxo said: "American in Paris did not make its money back. And we'll see if I'm right about no changes being made."



It came damn close though - closer than most shows.

"Psycho was a solid adaptation that nailed the source material and was presented in a truly inspired way."

You state this as if it is fact, which it is most certainly not.



"Hamilton and Psycho were perfect bookends to the theater season showing the birth of the American dream followed by the brutal reality of our American nightmare. It was an illustration of the Obama administration giving way to Trump. "

I'm sorry, but what? I understand the new constant need to connect everything to our current political climate, but c'mon. This is just pushing it.

themysteriousgrowl said: "I logged on to Grindr during intermission, and everyone in the seeable grid was less than 100 feet away."

That makes sense.

I'm sorry - I don't know how to do a spoiler box, so...

SPOILERS

The cyc, headers, and legs are scrims covering LED panels. These allow for certain effects like fireworks and snow. It's all used in a subtle and smart way.

The stage is a series of revolves - there's a main revolve, a mid-sized revolve within that one and then three smaller revolves within that. It's reminiscent of the stage floor for Shrek. These revolves are choreographed in ways to allow people or set pieces to travel in a straight line from the back of the stage to the front. Pieces - like the car - can be moved almost anywhere on the stage depending on how the revolves are arranged. When all of the revolves are moving at once with people or set pieces on all of them it looks a bit like a carnival ride. That's when I started to feel woozy :) Cheers to all of the programmers making that stage move - it must have been a long process.

Everything else about the set is pretty standard.

Updated On: 3/22/17 at 11:02 AM

theatregoer3 said: "I'm sorry - I don't know how to do a spoiler box, so..."

When you're composing your post, look for the [+] icon near the right side of the toolbar, next to the icon. Click that and it will insert a gray SPOILER box in which you can hide the potentially offending content.

theatregoer3 said: "SPOILERS

The cyc, headers, and legs are scrims covering LED panels. These allow for certain effects like fireworks and snow. It's all used in a subtle and smart way.

The stage is a series of revolves - there's a main revolve, a mid-sized revolve within that one and then three smaller revolves within that. It's reminiscent of the stage floor for Shrek. These revolves are choreographed in ways to allow people or set pieces to travel in a straight line from the back of the stage to the front. Pieces - like the car - can be moved almost anywhere on the stage depending on how the revolves are arranged. When all of the revolves are moving at once with people or set pieces on all of them it looks a bit like a carnival ride. That's when I started to feel woozy :) Cheers to all of the programmers making that stage move - it must have been a long process."

Wow! My mental picture of the above is far from clear, but it definitely sounds complex and perhaps even trail-blazing. To date, the highest number of revolves I've seen in a show was for American Psycho. I'd love to see video, or at least pics, of this. Has anybody come across a "making of" or "behind the scenes" type video for this show on BWW or Playbill.com?